LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf .tl^lL' 

TJNITEB STATES OF AMERICA. 



\ 



MACHINERY 



HEAVENS. 



A SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY. 



BY 



fa 

' aS^p. piciiereau. 



J^v/ 






MAR 28 1884 1 



W^SH\?4 



r^' 



GALESBUEG, ILL.: 

PLAINDEALEK FEINTING COMPANY. 

1884. 



fnprright. 188i, byA-P. Pl'^'lp'^^rj }^; 



V 



This work is for sale by book dealers. 
Price $1.50 per copy. 

By addressing the author, at Galesburg, 
111., single copies will be furnished at the 
regular price, and any single order addressed 
to the author, for ten or more copies, a 
liberal discount will be allowed. Terms, 
cash in advanct. 



•4: ^ 



4^^m^ 



N « -'■..-1 *■ ■ 









Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1884, by 

A. P. PICHEREAU, 

In the oflQce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Iktroductoey Letter^ 

Illestratiox — Onr Solar Svstem . . 

Essay I — The Reason why the Eartli 

Rotates on its Axis . . 1 to 26 

Essay II — The Reason whj- the Earth 
Revolves aronncl the 
Snn and vrhj the Moon 
Revolves around the 
Earth 28 to 49 

Essay III — Comets — Their General 

Forms and Motions. . 50 to 67 

Essay TV — Production and Destruc- 
tion of Worlds _-.... 68 to 86 

Essay V— Philosophy of the Tides. . 87 to 101 

Philosophical Chips — From the Au- 
thor's Recent Lectures 
and Debates 102 to 142 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



To The Reader: 

I take np my pen to say a few words to 
yon before you read the contents of this work, 
which lias been called "Machinery of the 
Heavens." 

When I first undertook to discover some 
of the laws, that govern a few of the motions 
in our solar system. I never expected to con- 
tinue as I have continued. I simply meant to 
make some repairs, but before I was through, I 
thought that I was trying to build a new ma- 
chine. 

In the study of physical astronomy, we 
should not say we are satisfied, until w^e have 
comprehended a whole system of physical laws. 
To do this we must take a starting point, and 
from it go out to investigate and note down 
every physical principle in this great mechani- 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



cal stnicture. Many persons give up the task 
after onl}^ a partial investigation, others are 
satisfied when they can explain but one mechan- 
ical principle of this great system, while some 
are content with only a part of one of these 
great physical principles that go to make up 
this o;reat machine of the heavens. 

As there must be a ''starting point" to the 
many years of study I have spent investigating 
the works of this great machine, I will take 
you back to about fifteen years ago and point 
out a few things I have been doing since that 
time. Then it was that Bob, Jim, Deck and I 
were school-boys together, and it was then we 
learned a reason for the rising of the ocean's 
tide on the side of the Earth opposite from the 
Sun and Moon. We learned a reason but we 
could not see any reason in it, and our instruct- 
or bothered and perplexed said, ''If you can't 
believe what the book teaches you had better 
hunt out a better reason." From that date I 
have been on the hunt and the kind of game I 
have succeeded in bringing home appears on 
the pages of this book. 

I don't know what Bob has been doing 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER, 



since those scliool days but I liave been \\\- 
formed he married yonng, and has had all he 
could do investio-atino; the tides that ebb and 
flow about the hearth, where his wife and chil- 
dren cono^reo-ate. 

Jim, according to hist accounts, had 
mounted the rostrum and was dealing in first- 
class oratory. He no doubt quit the study of 
the tides years ago. 

Just what success Deck has had in produc- 
ino; a reason for the risino; of the tide on the 
opposite side of the Earth, from its principal 
attracting luminaries, I cannot tell, but I have 
been told, that the bonds of matrimony and a 
sheep ranche down in Texas demand so much 
of his attention, that there is but little 
room in his mind for tide theories. 

To modestly speak about my doings since 
my school days, I would say that, after some 
hard knocks in the rough world, I became a 
practicing lawyer, and on account of the 
scarcity of clients, or some other reason, I have 
found time to continue my study on the tides 
and other questions of physical science. One 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



reason I have continued my study on these sub- 
jects so long is because I seemed to be contin- 
ualh' advancing and finding out. something new. 
First, on starting out to discover the cause of 
the tides, I thought that if I could find out 
why the Earth rotates on its axis, I would 
then be able to tell why the tides appear as 
they do. For, tliought 1, the Earth is caused to 
rotate by some force from the outside, and 
where this force is applied, no doubt, is the 
place in the ocean's surface that is pressed in. 
At last, after some hard work, I was able t(^ 
tell why the Eartli rotates on its axis, but the 
tide question was still unsolved, and as to my 
axial motion theory, a scientist informed me 
that it could not stand unless I would give the 
natural law that moves our planet in its orbit 
about the Sur. This having been done, I 
satisfied him, but not myself. The tide prob- 
lem was still unsolved. Thence I was led on, 
as we often are, by a desire to know more and 
tell our neighbors something new, and that 
desire prompted me to find out the cause of 
the general forms and motions of conrets. Hav- 
ing satisfied my mind on that subject, 'twas 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



then with some liesitatioii, 1 began an essay on 
'* Production and Destruction of Worlds." 

It was not until the year 1879 that I was 
ready to give the reason for the Earth's axial 
motion, and 'twas during the next year I wrote 
my essay on the cause of the orbital motion of 
the Earth and Moon, and another on the gen- 
eral forms and motions of comets. 

In the year 1881 I finished my essay on 
"Production and Destruction of Worlds," and 
early in the spring of 1882 completed one on 
"Philosophy of the Tides," and when this last 
essay was finished, I felt as though the work, I 
began years before, had been satisfactorily 
accomplished. 

I might have discovered the natural laws 
that control the movement of the tides, as soon 
as I had finished my essay on the orbital 
motion of the Earth and Moon, but for some 
reason I did not grasp the extent and grandeur 
of those physical laws, and it was not until 
about two years had passed, that my eyes opened 
to behold the true philosophy of the tides and 
comprehend it, in the clear light of reason. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



Yoli will notice that after the es-says con- 
tained in this work, come "Philosophical Chips," 
which are extracts from m}^ recent lectnres and 
debates, and are intended, in many instances, 
to strengthen and support the philosophical 
principles embodied in said essays. 

In til is work, I have failed or neglected 
to compromise or harmonize with the Bible, 
or anj^ other religions book. I have had as 
mnch as I could do studying out a natural 
working system for these heavenly bodies, and 
expect every religious person to liarmonize it 
wnth his religion as best he can. 

I have tried, in all my productions on 
pliysical astronomy, to make everything so 
plain that a person with only a common school 
education can fully comprehend the pliilosophy 
I have used. 

Tlie reader is to be tlie judge of the merits 
of this woi'k, and I want you, with the broad- 
ened and best view, to str.dy and think for 
yourself. I have tried to bring before you 
scientific truths, and if I have erred, it has not 
been for want of labor and good intention. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



I have endeavored in my labors to find out 
some philosophical truths heretofore unknown to 
us, and I am confident that^ to the extent I have 
succeeded, I have been or will be rewarded. 
Yours truly, 

A. P. PICHEREAU. 
Galesbueg, III., March 8, 1884. 



OUR SOLAE SYSTEM. 



Note. — For convenience, tlie Sun in the above chart is represented by 
one-fifteenth of its comparative size, and the orbits of the four outer 
planets by one-fourth of their relative distance from the orbit of Mars. 



ESSAY I. 



THE REASON AVHY THE EARTH ROTATES ON 
ITS AXIS. 



When we look about us to see tlie wondrous 
works of nature and observe tlie changes that 
hourly take place, we are often led from what 
we see to try and find oat the reasons for all 
these changes and discover the laws that govern 
this world of motion. 

We do not know, nor will we soon learn, 
all that might be known about this terrestrial 
and celestial world, though we are all the time 
extending our bounds in this branch of knowl. 
edge, yet there are hidden mj^steries near at 
hand which have never been discovered. It 
has been the custom of late years among most 
nations to give every man due credit for making 
any new advancement in this line of thought, 



2 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

and to accept a theory as true, if it appeared 
but reasonable. By this way of treating our 
fellows they have labored hard, and to-day 
physical science reaches over a broader domain 
than it ever has befoi'e. 

We have heard it said, "wind is air in 
motion," and again and again we have heard it 
repeated, ''there is no motion without a cause." 
AVhat then is the cause of tlie wind's motion? 
The answer to this question is said to be, be- 
cause the atmosphere in some climes becomes 
more heated than the adjoining atmosphere; it 
is thereby expanded, becomes lighter, and 
ascends, while colder denser air about it floats 
in to fill up the place made vacant by the warm 
air's departure. 

The motion of a whirlwind and that of a 
cyclone was at one time a mystery, but now 
these motions as well as the causes which pro- 
duce them, are clearly explained. Authorities 
say that a whirlwind, as well as a cyclone, is 
caused by two currents of air coming in contact 
with each other, and striking their outer sur- 
faces together in such a way as to give their 
combined volume a whirling motion, which will 



ESSAY I. 3 

move on nearly in the same direction the 
stronger current was going when they collided. 
Besides being formed in this way. tliey are also 
formed by a current of air striking a resting or 
slowlv moving Ijody of air on its unter surface, 
in such a manner as to give it a whirling niotioiK 
Cyclones are usually formed high in the air. and 
are often accompanied by a ]'ain storm whose 
very cload> are in this dreadful whirlpo-jl. giv- 
ing it strength aud weight, while it leaps in 
its furious flights over the Earth, dealing out 
death and destruction. 

I was told one time that it is natural for a 
l>ody to take a whirling n](;)ti(Ui when it is pass- 
ing through the air. and the fellow who gave 
me this vabialde information, said: "A foot- 
ball turns, a base-ball turns, a cannon-ball turns, 
and all other l>alls turn as they pass through 
tlie air. Yes. the Earth an<;l othei' planets turn 
while they are passing on through ethereal 
space." 

These balls in the atmosphere or the plan- 
ets in ethereal space, do n<;)t turn unless some- 
thing turns them. It is not the nature of a ball 
to turn, unless it is turned by some force. A 



4 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

foot-ball rotates by being kicked on one. side of 
its centre, sending that side along the faster; it 
may also be made to rotate by being retarded 
on one side more than on the other, as when it 
strikes the ground. A base-ball rotates by being 
retarded on one side, as when it leaves the hand 
with a rolL A cannon-ball rotates because it 
is i-etarded on one side more than the other as 
it is shot out from the cannon; it may also be 
made to rotate by making it strike the ground, 
and thereby causing that side to be retarded the 
more, while the upper side moves on freely. 
No ball, either in the air or in ethereal space, 
rotates unless it is made to rotate by some 
force. 

When we observe nature's laws causing a 
body to ]'otate, then it is as we meditate on 
this mio-htv Earth and its surroundino;s that we 
wish to know wliat makes it rotate on its axis. 

It was in the spring of 1879 that I asked 
through the columns of a leading Chicago daily 
newspaper for some one to tell me, through that 
paper, "What makes the Earth rotate on its 
axis?" The scientist was mum; he did not re- 
2:)ly, and the only answer I received — -save a 



ESS A Y I. 



few pi-ivate letters — to my question, came from 
a Christian gentleman, a Mr. D — , of Kanka- 
kee, whose half-poetic effusion was published in 
that leading Chicago daily, and when summed 
up amounts to one of its verses, which reads as 
follows: 

"Like as oiir mothers turned the wheel 
And apiin to clothe each coming heir, 

Our Heavenly Father for our weal 
Doth exercise his constant care." 

Have you ever heard anything like that be- 
fore? It is not news to me. I have often heard 
that answer. It was not what I wanted, there- 
foi'e being disappointed I did not fully appre- 
ciate it. 

When I asked for some one to tell me the 
cause of the Earth's axial motion I expected a 
scientiiic answer. I thought somebody would 
explain the natui-al laws by which this sphere 
is caused to rotate. Where and how a "Heav- 
enly Father" takesapart in this rotary motion 
I can not tell. Nor do I intend while discuss- 
ing this subject to try to harmonize science and 
the Bible. I only mean to give a scientific 
reason for the axial motion of our planet, and 



6 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

let he who will tell how these scientific princi- 
ples are connected with a ''Heavenly Father." 

The question which I now propose to an- 
swer is a common one; it is a question a'sked 
and thought of by each and every one of us. 
When we were children, as quick as we were 
told by our instructor that the Earth rotated on 
its axis every day, our query woul^ at once be, 
''What makes it turn on its axis?" 

Thoucfh our fathers and o-i-and-fathers and 
great grand-fathers may have asked this ques- 
tion, and given their opinions over and over 
again, yet we need not go many generations 
back; it is not necessary for us to look over 
the records of the past for more than six hun- 
dred years back, to find the time when this 
common question was not known to the civil- 
ized world. This question was not known 
because there was no use for such a question; 
first, it was necessaiy that men should believe 
the Earth turned on its axis, befoie it was re- 
quired of any one to answer — why does it turn? 

The ancients, the very race from wliicli we 
have descended, believed the Earth to be one 
vast plain, crossed by mountain ranges, drained 



ESSAY I. 



by rivers, dotted over here and tliere by lakes, 
and fitted for the abode of man ; that around 
tliis vast plain, this dwelling place of man, there 
was a great ocean of watei', and that be3^ond 
tliis ocean of watei*, at its very edge, if edge it 
had, there was the stepping off place, the iin- 
knowii brink, wliei-e it was thought man could 
look above and below into boundless space and 
there behold tlie realms of saved and lost souls. 

Our worthy ancestors had some curious 
notions. It was impossible for them to under- 
stand how the Eartli coidd be in existence 
unless it rested on some object as a support; 
they, therefore, had various notions as to what 
this support was. Some thought it rested on 
the back of a huge tortoise, wiiile others thought 
a giant man supported it on his shoulders. 
They named this strong man ''Atlas,'' and he to 
this day is pictured in giant form with this 
sphere upon his back, bending beneath his pon- 
derous load. 

By and by an astronomer and philosopher 
by the name of Ptolemy appeared to awaken 
the people with new and progressive ideas. His 
teachings were not all truej but they with their 



8 MACHiyERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

faults were far in advance of the doctrines 
taught before his time. Ptolemy believed and 
taught that the Earth was the centre of the 
universe ; that it stood still, it rested on nothing, 
while the Sun, Moon and stars revolved around 
it every day. 

There also lived about this age of the Avorld 
a remarkable philosopher, who taught nearly 
the san:ie astronomy that Ptolemy proclaimed. 
This man of lasting fame was Plato, but Plato 
differed in some j*espects from Ptolemy, for 
Plato in fixing the position of the Sun, Moon 
and stars, placed them in others relation to 
each other; than they were placed according to 
the Ptolemaic svsteui. AVithout commentinor 
on or fully explaining these men's views, I will 
proceed to consider the teachings of a remark- 
able astronomer, a man, who though he lived 
five centuries ago, to-day his thoughts are in 
the mind of every school child. The solar 
system, as he mapped it, was as you and I map 
it. Though this truly great man may have 
derived sonie of his thoughts fi'om others, yet 
to Copernicus we give the honor of founding 
the Copernican System, It has been claimed 



ESS A Y I. 9 

by the Greeks that their citizens Pythagoras, a 
worthy philosopher, liacl arrived at the tnitli of 
this systein long before Copernicns existed, but 
whether this Grecian claim is true or false, it 
matters not to ns. We know that Copei-nicns 
has justly earned tlie credit, for he did not only 
think it ont bnt talked it. He wrote about it, 
and sent it down to posterity as the work of his 
brain. Copernicns believed, and his writings 
teach, that the Sun is the center of the universe 
or solar system, and around it the jilauets pass, 
each in its separate orbit. 

From age to age these grand old orbs liave run 
Unnumbered times their circuits round the Sun, 
When living man from old friend Earth has gone. 
Existing forces will these worlds move on . 
About one side is ever breaking day, 
And on another evening whiles away; 
From west to east these great spheres onward roll, 
And plow the ether while they seek their goal. 

Copernicus was born in Poland and the rem- 
nant of that ruined nation may be proud of 
him for his name will ring with an immortal 
echo away down the long line of our posterity 
for ages on ages to come, 

About this time there lived other noted men 



10 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

who were valuable philosophers and -astroiio- 
mers. There was Tycho Bi'ahe, wlio, tliongh 
he was a disbeliever in the Copernican system, 
was a wise, earnest man ; and there was the 
great observer, Keplei', who, in advance of 
Newton, fixed the orbits of the planets and 
measured the heaveiis. We must not forget to 
mention the great discoverer, Christopher Co- 
lumbus, a man who dared to venture out on tlio 
broad Atlantic, against the pi'ayers of his 
friends and the pleadiiigs of his relatives. lie 
went forth because he was confident he would 
find land by sailing westward ; if not the new 
continent, he believed he would come to the 
eastern shore of the old. He ventured on his 
own opinion, and his voyage resulted in the dis- 
covery of America. He opened the way for 
our forefathers, who unloosed the shackles that 
bound them to tyrant thrones, and prepared a 
glorious free home in this new country for 
themselves and theii* posterity. 

I will now^ speak of a man who lived about 
this time, wdio, under the worst disadvantages, 
rose to be the greatest astronomer of his time. 
This man, of the few greatest astronomers of 



ESSA r 7. 11 



tlie world, was Galileo, the inventor of the 
telescope; the man wlio, while in Konie, did 
not do as the Romans did. He disbelieved in 
the Ptolemaic system, which for fonrteen hun- 
dred years the Romans had adopted as the true 
one, and was fully set forth and explained in a 
book which has been called the Astronomical 
Bible. Among the Romans, when Galileo was 
there, it was against their laws to introduce any 
new astronomical theory contrary to their Ptol- 
emaic Astronomical Bible, and he who did so 
was liable to be published as an infidel and a 
criminal. But what cared the immortal Gali- 
leo for their laws. He was armed too strong 
in honesty to be easily frightened and driven 
from his convictions. So, when he was ar- 
rested and brought before a body of grave 
inquisitors, and told that he must promise to 
quit teaching his doctrine or suffer the punish- 
ment of death, the great, wise old man decided 
to live; but it is said that when he arose to 
depart, he stamped with his foot the Earth, and 
said, *'It does move." 

It was not until the sixteenth century that 
the majority of the civilized world were willing 



12 MACHINERY OF THE HE A VEX S. 

to accept the Copeniicaii s^^stem as tlie true one. 
It was not nntil about tliis time that mankind 
generally believed the Eai-th revolves around 
the Sun and lotates on its axis. 

In that century there lived a man .whose 
fame has reached every clime and his name 
should be ever honored for his worth. From 
seeing an apple fall from a tree one day, he 
proceeded to establish the laws of gravitation. 
From attraction of gravitation on the Earth's 
surface, lie extended his laws to the fai-tliest 
planet of our system then known. He also 
made some very valuable discoveries in light. 
This worthy man of whom I am now speaking- 
was no less a person than Sir Isaac Newton. 
This astronomer and phih^sopliei* answered 
many questions that had never been answered 
before, and at last he attempted to give a reason 
why the Earth rotates on its axis every day. 
Mr. Newton said: "This niotion is pi-obably 
caused by centripetal and centrifugal foi'ces," 
but he never gave us any reason why these 
forces should turn the Eartli on its axis in the 
way it now rotates. 

There hm been a scientific speculator of 



ESSAY I. 13 



late date who tries, by a mathematical process, 
to account for the axial motion of planets from 
the supposition that they are gradually cooling, 
and contraction makes them rotate. Those who 
study for the truth will soon see the absurdity 
of such a theory. 

The planets of the solar system have a very 
I'apid motion in their orbital course around the 
Sun. Our Earth travels in its orbit about 570,- 
000,000 miles in a year, during w4iich time it 
performs one revolution about the Sun. At 
that rate of travel per year it would go 68,000 
miles an hour. Its axial motion at the equator 
causes its surface to move about 1,000 miles an 
hour, so it is plain for us to understand tiiat w^e 
are being carried on by two motions, one bear- 
ing us onward around the Sun at the rate of 
68,000 miles an hour, while the otlier carries us 
around the center of the Earth at the rate of 
1,000 miles an hour. What force keeps up the 
orbital motion of the planets, I will not now 
explain. It is my object here to show some 
natural cause for the rotation of the Earth on 
its axis as it passes in its orbit about the Sun 
through that ocean of ether that fills its path. 



14 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

When I speak of tliat ocean of ether that fills its 
path, I mean that fine fioid that fills all space 
unoccupied by something more dense. There 
are men who deny the existence of ether in 
space; but when you find such men in this en- 
lig'htened age, you fiiid in them poor authority. 
The astronomer and philosopher, Dick, a man 
of much learning, and other noted ast]-onomers 
Avho lived at and before his time, believed that 
interstellar space is filled with ether, and that a 
body, in passing through this ether met with a 
resistance. The undulatoi-y theory of light 
proves conclusively that there is an ether in 
space. This theory of light is the one taught 
and believed to be the true one by professors 
and scholars in all our colleges and schools. 
That light moves or is transmitted by waves 
through atmosphere and ether, is a positive fact 
w^hich experiments repeatedly made prove. 
There are other reasons which pi'ove the exist- 
ence of a resisting ethereal medium in inter- 
stellar space, and when all the evidence is 

brought together, the proof is so strong that you 
and I have no reason to deny it. 

The question now arises, What is the dens- 



ESSAY J. 15 



ity of this ether? It may not be 1-10,000 as 
dense as our atmosphere; but, believing this 
ether to be a sa])stance, though a very rare one, 
nie must then believe that a body thousands of 
miles in diameter, when forced through this 
ocean of ether at the rate of 68,000 miles an 
hour, will meet with a resistance. Tliis resist- 
ance may not be more than 10 pounds while 
the body moves one foot, and it may be 10,000 
pounds for every foot it advances. Be it much 
•or a little, it is something. Tliis fact is an im- 
portant item in producing the axial motion of 
the Earth, and I wish you to remember it. 

From that boundless ethereal world let me 
lead your mind to the atmosphere of the Earth 
and other planets, and there find wliat common 
sense teaches and authors know about the 
oceans of air that envelop this, as well as other 
spheres. I remember well the time when my 
mind first began to take hold of Xature's scenes 
and Nature's laws. There was a time when I 
thought the air I breathed extended everywhere 
above me. It had no limits. It was unbounded 
and unbindable. But since those boyhood days 
mv understandino' has chano-ed verv mucli, and 



16 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

now I believe I can view the universe, as a full- 
grown man should see it. 

The atmosphere of the Earth has a limit; 
it has bounds; but just where these bounds are, 
seems to be a question of^dispute. It has beeu 
said by some authorities that the atmosphere of 
the Earth, has been proven by measurement to 
be fifty miles deep, and ofteu these same authors 
say, *'Tlie meteors that float in space and come in 
contact with the Earth's atmosliere, never blaze 
or become ignited, so that we dwellers on the 
Earth can see them, until they come within the 
limits of our atmos2)here. The cause for their 
beini>; io-nited is on account of the friction thev 
receive as they pass swiftly through the atmos- 
phere, maki]]g them sometimes be at a melting 
heat, and often causing them to explode. The 
height of these blazing meteors are sometimes 
thousands of miles above the surface of the 
Earth." 

It is said that the meteoric shower that 
occurred at Niagara Falls in the year 1833 was 
one of the finest ever witnessed; that each glow- 
ing ball seemed to descend from a height of at 
least 2,200 miles. ELaving been anxious to find 



ESSAY I. 17 



out the exact height of onr atmosphere, I have 
searched through a great many authorities to 
arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. While I 
was one day looking through a library of scien- 
tiiic works not long since, I took from the case 
"Plumboldt's Cosuios" and there read what that 
author had to say on the subject. Alexander 
Von Humboldt was a man of mai'ked ability, a 
philosopher of merit, and a benefactor of this 
nineteenth progressive century. This man of 
much worth says: If the Earth's atmosphere 
gradually decreased in density as its distance 
from the surface of the Earth increases, at the 
height of fifty miles, it would become nothing; 
but as it is of course very dense at the surface 
of the Earth, owing to its moisture and earthy 
couiposition, it is absolutely cei'tain that it does 
not gradually become rarer as the distance from 
the Earth's surface increases. Erom which 
reasoning we may believe that at an elevation 
of one hundred miles it nuiy not be much moi'e 
dense than it is at an elevation of one thousand 
miles. Humboldt says it is impossible to arrive 
at exactly the depth of our atmosphere, and 
concludes his opinion on this subject by saying 



18 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

the Earth's atmosphere may be thoiisauds of 
miles deep. More modei'ii authors seem to 
think about as Humboldt did and coufirm what 
he said on the subject. 

From the numerous observations on the 
planet Mars all seem to confivm an established 
recorded opinion of old asti'onoiners, which 
opinion was, that the atmosphere of that planet 
is very dense, and also very deep. It has been 
observed that when the planet Mars is about to 
pass between the Earth and a star, before the 
main body of this familiar planet reaches the 
star, it is dimmed by the atmosphere of Mars 
for some time. From these observations the 
atmosphere of Mars has been estimated to be 
several thousand miles deep. If Mars has an 
atmosphere of this depth, why should not the 
Earth have one similar to it? The planets 
Earth and Mars appear to be alike in so many 
other respects, why should they not have sim- 
ilar atmospheres? The Earth's axis inclines 
from a perpendicular about twenty-three de- 
grees; Mars' axis inclines from a perpendicular 
about thirty degrees. The Earth turns on its 
axis in about tw^enty four hours; the planet 



ESSAY I. 19 



Mars tui-ns on its axis in about twenty-four 
hours. Mars appears to liave clouds floating 
over its solid surface; seas, continents, moun- 
tains and volcanoes are observed on its disk. If 
the planets Earth and Mars are alike in so many 
other respects, why should they not have like 
atmopheres? 

From what I can gather by study and 
authorities, I have concluded that the Earth's 
atmosphere, above the equator, is several thous- 
and miles deep. This atmosphere, or ethereal 
air, may be very thin at that high altitude; but 
it is reasonable for me to believe that this 
gaseous compound that envelopes our globe 
and passes with it in its course about the Sun, 
at the equator, is several thousand miles deep. 
I also believe the great depth of this atmos- 
phere affords a protection to all things living on 
this globe; that if the atmosphere was but one 
mile high, ethereal resistance might sw^eep the 
forward part of oui' globe bare of atmosphere. 
It must be deep. I believe that in order to 
bring into existence and keep in existence the 
animal tenants of this globe, it is necessary to 
clothe this sphere with a deep, soft covering. 



20 MAClilNERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

so that it may be tumbled on with ''the flight 
of a star" without disturbing us. 

Our next object w^ill be to see what effect 
the heat of the Sun has on our globe deeply lined 
with its vast atmosphere. We all know — or 
ought to know — that heat will expand atmos- 
phere. When I was about twelve years of age, 
I proved this fact by experiment. I took a 
bottle, corked it up tightly, then placed it in 
some hot water on th^back end of our kitchen 
stove, and with anxious eyes and ears, awaited 
the result. By and by away flew cork and hot 
w^ater in my face with a loud report. This 
called some of the family to see what had ex- 
ploded. I told them what had happened, and 
concluded my say by remarking, ''Well, heat 
does expand air." When we consider that the 
Earth's atmosphere is several thousand miles 
deep, and that directly under the Sun that at- 
mosphere, pierced by his warm reflected rays, 
is greatly heated, it is then not difficult to be- 
lieve that the atmosphere of our globe which is 
exposed to the Sun's rays is greatly expanded. 
Another source of expansion, during the day 
time, is caused by the action of the heat from 



ESSAY L 21 



the Sun on the waters of the lieniisphere which 
faces it. A great portion of these waters are 
evaporated, and ascend into the atmosphere in 
the form of clouds. Solids are also expanded 
by heat, and after a long investigation I have 
concluded that the atmosphere of our globe, 
dii-ectlv nnder the Snn at the equator, is several 
hundred miles deeper than it is at midnight on 
the opposite side of our spliere. 

I have ai-gued, while discussing this subject 
with friends, that if the Earth perfoi*med but 
one revolution on its axis in six months, that 
tlie atmosphere on its surface w^ould — on that 
side which faced the Sun for so long a time — 
becouie thousands of miles deeper, than it would 
be on the opposite side of our globe; and also, 
if the Eartli should stop its ]-otating on its axis, 
and one side of it from this time forth and 
forever face the Sun, that then all the atmos- 
phere on our globe would tend to seek that 
heated side, and when the cold air on its sur- 
face, which had come fi'om the opposite side of 
our sphere, became heated and expanded, it 
would rise, and by ascending, make room for 
its crowding companions which had floated 



22 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

after it from the same far-off clime. Now, if 
this natural law kept up its work, it appears to 
me that it would not be long before that dark, 
cold, lifeless hemisphej^e of our globe would be 
almost destitute of any atmosphere. But such 
an experiment will never be tried, such a state 
of nature will never exist, while the Eartli, tlie 
atmosphere, the ethereal space and all the 
natural conditions of the universe remain fhe 
same as they are to-day. 

Haviug thns far set foi-th the physical con- 
dition of the Earth and its surroundings as I 
understand them, first, the earth passing rapid- 
ly through ethereal space, and secondly, show- 
ing how it is enveloped by a deep atmosphere 
which is continually expanded as it is exposed 
to the Sun and contracted when it is absent 
from that luminary, it is now my purpose to 
show by illustration that VN^hen a person believes 
the physical conditions in nature are as I have 
expressed them, they then can easily understand 
why the Earth has a rotary motion in the same 
direction it now is turning. 

To hastily explain, I would have you tie a 
feather to a buck shot, then throw them into 



ESSAY L 23 



the air and observe which will go in advance of 
the otlier — the heavier and denser body or the 
lighter and bulkier one; a loaded arrow with a 
feather at the othei- end will illustrate the same 
law. I have tried a great many of these com- 
mon experiuients, and have alwaj's found the 
law of nature to be that, if one side of a body 
is lighter and more bulky than the opposite 
side, when this body is swiftly passed through 
a resisting medium, the lighter and more bulky 
side will always go to the rear, while the heav- 
ier and more dense side will go to the front. 

A fellow once asked me if attraction of 
gravitation did not aid with its power in some 
way to help turn a j^l^^^et on its axis. I 
believe it does, and my reason for believing so 
is because of its general laws. I have noticed 
that a body here on the Earth's surface, which 
is more densely loaded on one side, than on the 
other, when thrown out on the commons, ere 
long will have that densely loaded side turned 
towards the center of the Earth, its center of 
gravity. 

I remember when I was a school-boy of a 
little sport we fellows used to have. When the 



24 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

teacher was not Avatchiiig us — which . I have 
often regretted was \evy seldom — we would 
take a piece of the lightest pith, shape it in the 
form of a jug, load the bottom with shot, carve 
its top as near as possible in the shape of a 
monk's head, and then call this lubberly fellow^ 
'^the upright monk." Whatever position we 
would place this fellow^ in, — on his head, side, 
back, or face — he would always spriug to his 
feet, and do it quickly. That pitli monk I now^ 
turn into a practical purpose to illustrate the 
position a body seeks when one side is heavier 
than the other, all caused by attraction of grav- 
itation which attracts the denser and heavier 
side the more. 

Now let us change our center of gi-avity 
froui the center of the Earth, to the center of 
the Sun, and have the Earth to play the part 
of '^tho upright monk." It is reasonable for us 
to believe it should act its part like the monk, 
and the proof is, that, as soon as the hemisphere 
of the Earth which is faciug the Sun has liad 
its atmosphere made lighter by expansion a 
sufficient amount, the opposite hemisphere of 
our globe, whose atmosphere has become con- 



ESS A Y I. 25 



tracfed by the absence of the Sun, will — ac- 
cording to the rnles of attraction I have jnst 
mentioned — be drawn toward the Sun and pro- 
ceed to get nearer by taking the place of the 
expanded hemisphere, and so begin and con- 
tinue to rotate on its axis. 

This law of attraction has nothing to do 
with starting the Earth, as well as other plan- 
ets, to tnrn in the direction they now rotate. 
Planets wei'e first cansed to rotate from west to 
east by their receiving more resistance in pro- 
portion to their weight on their expanded sides 
that face the Snn than they did on their con- 
tracted sides, which were absent fi-om the Sun's 
rays as they were hui-led through the medium 
in space. If a planet receives more resistance 
in proportion to its weight, on one side than it 
does on the other, though this difference be but 
one pound for every foot it advances, I believe 
that side so resisted would be retarded and go 
to the rear, while the opposite side w^ould move 
forward, and thus begin to rotate, and as long as 
the same natural laws existed continue its rota- 
tion. 

Which of these laws has the more to do in 



26 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

causing the Earth to rotate on its axis, — the 
attractive force for the heavier side, or the re- 
sistance of the medium in space on the light 
and bulky side? I cannot exactly tell. I be- 
lieve the latter force would make our Earth 
rotate as it does, and I also believe the attract- 
i\'e force alone after our Earth had been once 
started to rotate as it now does, would continue 
its motion in its present constant and regular 
way. 



ESSAY II, 



THE REASON WHY THE EAETH EEYOLYES 
AROUND THE SUN, AND WHY THE MOON 
REYOLYES AROUND THE EARTH. 



AVhen a person writes a letter or makes a 
speech, he should know the character of the per 
son or persons he is addressing. I have met 
men during my short travel on the broad high- 
way of life, who appeared to be contrary in 
everything; who, when you woukl talk sense, 
would prefer to talk nonsense, and when you 
would do your best to be agreeable they wonld 
be extremely disagreeable. I have no patience 
with such fellows, and if I had mj way about 
it, they would all be manacled, and locked up 
securely with that class of persons whom 
Shakespeare vented his wrath upon, because 
they had no music in their souls. They should 



28 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

all be put into the same boat, and ]iot a njan of 
them be trusted. 

If I were addi*essing a friend, or an old 
schoolmate, who in past days ot liope and pleas 
ure, played bull-pen or leap-frog with me, I 
would, if such were the case, take mucli com- 
fort in the work now before me, and expect my 
eifort to meet witli his approbation. When you 
deal with such old companions, you can gener- 
ally tell what to expect, but in the case before 
me, as 1 set out to produce an argument in 
physical scieiice and produce a theory of my 
own labor, I will in tin's eifoi't speak to both 
friend and stranger, to men of all religious per- 
suasions, to the infldel and cpiasi-infidel, to the 
minister, professor, doctor, lawyer, merchant, 
tradesman, laborer, and others of other voca- 
tions, they all may note and all accept what 
may appear to be the truth, or denounce and 
condemn both this argument and its author. 

We must venture some when we adopt a 
new theor}^ for there is the new plan, the un- 
tried foundation and the suspicious machine. 
A cry comes from our friends, "Take 
care! keep back! stop! you may rue the 



ESSAY II. 29 



advance you are wanting to take!" We hesi- 
tate, then with a firni resolution, we make a 
bold spring and alight, fearless of any dangei*, 
on this newly-discovered structure. When we 
are once there w^e look about, and finding all 
around radiant with truth, and gorgeously 
grand, we wave our hats and beckon our friends 
to come and take a place beside us. By and by 
an old companion of ours comes out. He be- 
lieves our position safe and he is willing to 
trust his own judgment, and before long we 
find him at our side, feoon others come, and 
very soon we find ourselves surrounded by a 
crowd of brave, hearty fellows who are firm be- 
lievers in the strength of the position they 
occupy. Then come strangers; people of a for- 
eign clime press their way to the front, till, all 
of a sudden, w^e discover representatives from 
every part of the Eai'tli are with us. And now 
when our theory is about to reach the crowning 
point of its popularity, w^e should cool our ardor 
by solemnly reflecting and asking ourselves 
these questions: Will it ever cease to live? Will 
it prove to be an error, and it as well as its 
author and supporters cursed, condemned and 
ridiculed? 



30 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

If a theory is antrue, it would be best for 
the world if it should die in its infancy and not 
live to lead the human race into an error; but 
if a theory is true, there should be a general 
welcome to it everywhere as it makes its ad- 
yance about the world, carryino; its truth all 
around this globe, and dealing out knowledge 
and lio;ht where there was ionorance and dark- 
ness. So, in choosing tlie good fi'om the bad, 
in selectiug truth from error, we cannot be too 
cautious, and men should not be blamed, when 
they hesitate and seem to be afraid to accept a 
i:iew idea or a theory, which touches the spring 
and opens the window, from which appears in 
mio^hty motion some machinery of the solar 
system. 

There has been for some time past an idea, 
a theory, in my mind, which seems to explain 
why the Earth has an orbital motion, and why 
the moon revolves in its orbit about its center 
of attraction. I have been cautious about pub- 
lishing my theory in regard to these orbital 
motions. My approach to this present step has 
been gradual, and at every moment since the 
day I stood alone with this theory, I have been 



ESSAY II. 31 



reinforced; volunteei-s have enlisted to defend 
this cause, and now, with the hope of one who 
has been victorious in several battles, with some 
friends come out boldly to fight all opposers 
who wish to eno;ao:e in this mental contest. 

I dislike very niiicli — while producing an 
argument on the orbital motion of planets — to 
come in contact with some worthy old philoso- 
piier's theory. I hesitate in this instance, bo- 
fore I attack an old author's theory on the 
orbital motion of planets. Why I should dis- 
like the task or hesitate to make the attack, I 
cannot tell. I believe in a person advocating 
wdiat he considers true, and blotting out all 
error, therefore I proceed. 

That a certain old author erred when he 
said "the planets move in their orbits because 
and only because they were started to move," 
in my mind seems certain. ''A. body wlien 
once started to move, if acted upon by no other 
force than that which starts it, will move on in 
a straight line forever; if it is acted upon b}' 
an attractive force, it will tend to be di*awn to 
that attraction, and its motion will be in a 
curve, a circle, or an ellipse about its center of 



32 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVEXS. 



to 



gravity." I believe in that statement, as I have 
jnst quoted it from an astronomical woi'k I have 
before me, but wlien these old authors take the 
next step, and sav the jplanets'' orMtal motions 
are in accord with this major premise, "it is a 
parallel case," then is when we should become 
doubtfnl of the truth of their theory, and by 
investigating the physical coJistruction of the 
universe, become prepared to declare the -ogic 
of these old veterans unsound. 

These authors say: "The Earth was started 
with two motions, one al)out the Sun and the 
other about its own axis; there was nothing in 
the universe to retard these motions, so they 
have kept np the same j'outine of action for 
these hundreds of centuries. 

"The Earth would move on and on, in a 
straight line, if it was not acted n23on by the 
attraction of gravitation of the Sun. This 
attraction of the Sun tends to, and does cause it 
to move about that luminary in an elliptical 
orbit." Let me ask you if the planet Earth has 
not some opposition which would check and 
finally stop these motions if they were not con- 
tinually revived by some force in nature? 



ESS A Y II. 33 



Would not tlie ethereal fluid in space check the 
orbital motion of tlie Earth, as the air will a 
ball you throw to reach a distant point? And 
also will not the Earth's axial motion be retarded 
as it turns in this ocean of etlier, as a ball will 
gr:idually cease to rotate when it is whirled 
into air or water? Thei'e is another reason why 
these old anthoi'ities seem to be mistaken, for 
as we nndej-stand the laws of attraction of gi-av- 
itation between the Earth and the Sun, that 
half of our Earth that is facing the Sun at this 
moment is more attracted by it than that half 
of our spliere which is now the gi'eater distance 
from that fiery mass; the part of the Earth 
nearest the Sun is held the strongest by that 
great centi-al attracting luminary. If such is 
the case it would require renewed force applied 
to this sphere or else on account of its being all 
the tinje attracted on one side, its axial motion 
before long would entirely cease, and one side 
of our planet be as con.stant in facing the Sun 
as our Moon is in facing the Earth. 

AVhy should not the Moon's motion in its 
orbit die out? What reason is there to hinder 
it from ceasing its oibital revolution if it never 



34 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

received but one pull, jdusIi or throw into space? 
By the attraction of the Sun it is all the time 
influenced to get and keep between the Earth 
and Sun. If it is continually di-awn toward 
this position why should not this strong attract- 
ive force in a short time overcome that first and 
only, and, as some say, everlasting force? There 
is a living, acting force that runs the mighty 
machinery of this great universe. It is con- 
trary to logic that the motions of the spheres 
came, and have continued, by an unrenewed or 
unaided foi'ce that first sent them out into 
ethereal space. It is against the laws of nature 
and all her works, that any motion should exist 
and continue without being renewed and kept 
going bj^ some living force. You may think, 
reflect and search in vain for a true example of 
such a motion. The only example given of a 
"blind force" in nature is where some authors 
tell us that "the planets, satellites, asteroids 
and comets move because long years age they 
were started to move so." 

When Borrelli, Xewton and other believers 
in the non-destructable throw or push centrifu- 
gal force, or a centrifugal force they failed to 



ESSAY II. 35 



explain, said — "the planets are kept in tlieir 
orbits by centripetal and centrifugal force" — 
they spoke the truth, though they did believe 
in a "projectile" or ''falliiig body" centrifugal 
force, tliat never runs down. 

Sir Isaac TS\nvton taughr. and hi> fulluvrers 
teach, that this centrifugal force is independent 
of the Sun abuut which these planets revolve. 
and they could just as well gu around that great 
orb in ovje dii'ecti<jn as another. This — as you 
have discovered — is not tlic kind of centrifugal 
force that I Itelieve in. I believe that this 
"centrifugal force" independent', and that it de- 
pends upon, and results from, the force that con- 
stantly moves a planet in it.- orl»it. which force 
swings out. and on the orljitcil niovin;^' sphere 
about a rotating .-plicre. its center of gravity. 

Have you ever ti'ied to discover any thing 
in nature that would continually act up<;n the 
Earth or Moon to urge tbeui on in tlieir orbital 
coursed If you have not then :-top for a 
moment and see if you cannot tliirjk out some 
force in tlie uni\-erse. as we understand its phv- 
slcal lavvs. that will continually act on either 
of these planets, and cause them \o move 



36 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

on in their orbits. I was led into the 
tlieoiy I shall soon attempt to explain by 
having been asked the qnestion over and over 
again, nntil I believed it could be answered. 
The question at last became so common that I 
felt ashamed of myself and my predecessors. I 
searched for an answer in such astronomi- 
cal works as Newton, Kepler, Dick and others 
published, but found in them no reasonable an- 
swer. I had attempted several times to give a 
reason why tlie Earth has an axial motion, and 
I was thought by some sober-minded fellows to 
have given tlie true answer, and one tliat cannot 
be dis2:>osed of witliout banishing a truth, and 
now^ these same earnest fellows have asked me 
again and again to tell them why the Eartli 
moves in its orbit about the Sun, and why the 
Moon has an orbital course about the Earth. 
Well, sirs, you must stand by me, and if some 
astronomer arises in his glory with his hosts of 
veteran v/arriors to give hs battle, I don't want 
to see you skulk away like cowards and excuse 
yourselves by saying, ''I aju not arjned." If 
truth is on our side, and we battle to conquer, 
ours is and will be the victory. If I had not 



ESS A Y J I. 37 



believed firmly in the theory T i^m here to ex- 
plain, I would never have dipped my pen to 
write one sentence on the subject. 

I liave often looked at the Moon, that 
glowing messenger of night, and said, while I 
viewed the heavenly dome: *'Ilow grand are 
tlie works of tliis created universe!" There 
seems to be the burning Moon sweeping on 
through the heavens from east to west, but here 
I stop, reflect for a moment, and then say: 
*'No, no; it don't travel in that wa}' ; its appar- 
ent motion in tliat direction is caused by the 
Earth turning on its axis from west to east." 

Now, as we are observing that night lumi- 
nary's orbital course, I think of the force that 
carries it around, and say to my companion who 
stands by. Is it not remarkable that attraction 
of gravitation should be the principal means of 
all that glorious motion? Yonder floats the 
Moon; there Venus appears in her soft light, 
moving on; here beneath us is the Earth, which, 
to those far-off planets, must be a mysterious 
orb. 

The Earth carries us about its axis at the 
rate of about 800 miles an hour, and at the 



38 MACHINERY OF THE HE AY EX S. 

same time we are borne on in the Earth's 
orbital path at the rapid rate of 68,000 miles 
an hour. If you could leap up from the ground 
to the height of fifty miles^ you would come 
down nearly in the same place you are now 
standing. If \o\\ could in some way elevate 
yourself above the Earth's atmosphei*e and re- 
main there away off in that ethereal space for 
about two days, and then come down to the 
place from where you started, wdiat story could 
you tell of your travels? Would there not be 
something in your experience of interest to all 
with whom you conversed? You would tell us 
that you ascended to a great height; that you 
expected all the time the planet Earth would 
leave vou; that, as the Earth was e^oino; on in 
its orbital course at a furious rate, you had no 
power in yourself to keep up with this planet's 
flight, and often you would anticipate your fate 
and become faint vrith fright; but at times 
when hope seemed to be all gone and despair 
was yonr only companion, you would look out 
about to view^ the surroundings, and there, at 
the same distance from you, would be this 
splendid globe, and you would think as you 



ESSAY II. 39 



viewed tlie scenes about ''thou art my inotlier 
Earth, thou art my pi'oteetor. " You would 
also tell us about tlie day and niglit you passed 
through while up thei'e. You would say: *'l 
was up there about forty-eight hours^ aud w^hilc 
I was up there, it was uiglit for about uine 
lioui's, and day moi-e than four times as long. 
When it was ni^rht I was in the shadow of the 
Earth, and when the day prevailed, I was out 
of this shadow. From what T can understand, 
I must have been carried about the axis of the 
Eartli by some force, though from my observa- 
tion the sui'face of tlie Earth seemed to be 
slowly passing beneath me; but, as I went up 
there while it was day, and while up there the 
Earth passed between me and the Sun, it must 
be that I teok up some kind of an orbital 
motion, and made a revolution in that orbit in 
about fort} -eight hours." 

This would be a \vonderf ul experience, but 
if you could elevate yourself away off there in 
that position, and keep yourself up at that 
height from the Earth's surface, you would ex- 
perience just such a time. 

If it w^ere possible to elevate a mass of 



40 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

matter one hnnclred thousaiid miles above the 
surface of the Earth, and the Earth's power of 
attracting and repelling were equal on that 
mass of matter, so that it would not be 
driven from or attracted to the Earth, and 
this state of nature existed continually, that 
mass of matter, so situated, would become 
and continue to be a satellite of the Eai'th, 
and revolve in its orbit about our globe in 
about ten days. If an object on being 
elevated three miles or fifty iniles above the 
surface of the Earth, is carried on by the axial 
n]ot:on of this planet, why should not a':] object 
or a satellite which is placed one thousand, ten 
thousand, one hundred thousand, or two hun- 
dred and forty tliousand miles, be carried on in 
the same direction? It is a fact that the farther 
away you place the satellite of tlie Earth, the 
slower it will move in its oi'bit; if the Moon's 
distance from the Earth was only one hundred 
thousand miles, it would perform its revolution 
about this planet in less than ten days. 

Why should masses of matter, when placed 
off from the surface of the Earth, go ai'ound 
our globe? Why do not these objects, when 



ESSAY IT. 41 



placed out of tlie influence of our atniosphei-e 
stand still, or if attracted by the Earth, get 
beliind tliis sphere, and in this position travel 
on through ethereal space? Why should these 
bodies take np an orbital motion? 

There is a reason for the orbital motion of 
the Earth and Moon or any mass of matter 
about an attracting rotating sphere. To illus- 
trate my theory in rather an imperfect way, I 
have arranged a circle of magnets in the follow- 
ing manner. On a wooden wheel place a circle 
of magnets so that their ends, which have the " 
greatest attractive power are just over the 
outer edge of said wheel, have said wheel 
placed on a perpendicular axle, so that it can 
be easily turned on said axle, then encircle said 
wheel, with two Avii-e hoops, which are to serve 
as rails or guides, on, and almost between, said 
hoops, place an iron ball, that will roll on these 
hoops by a very slight force being exerted upon 
it. When the wheel that supports the attract- 
ing magnets is stationary the ball will l)e at 
rest, but when the wheel is turned the ball will 
take up a motion in the same direction the 
wheel is turning, and as long as the wheel con- 



42 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

tinues to turn the ball will keep on going 
aronnd. To cause the ball to have a rapid mo- 
tion in its orbit, it ninst be placed near its 
rotating attraction. 

I do not propose while attempting to ex- 
plain a theory in physical astronomy, for the 
2:^ernsal of the child, as well as the adnlt, to give 
any long mathematical demonstration to prove 
the trnth of this theory; its truth is plain and 
self-evident. According to the laws of me- 
chanics this theory can be proven to be true. 
The orbital course of these plaiiets give evidence 
of its trutli. and mathematical demonstrations, 
based upon laws which we]'e established In^ the 
immortal Newton, proclaim this law to be real, 
actual and existing. 

Suppose that the Earth was divided into 
two equal parts, and that each of these parts 
became a sphere and adjoined each other in 
close proximity, and that these spheres S() 
divided rotated on an axis which was between 
them, then and in that case the center of the 
sphere nearer the Moon would be about 4,000 
miles nearer that satellite than the center of 
that sphere fai'ther from that secondary planet. 



43 ESSAY II. 



If siK'h a state of nature existed and these 
spheres rotated on an axis, as I have described, 
then the spliere nearer the Moon would influ- 
ence that l)ody in the direction it was going, 
although the opposite sphei'e would be moving 
the contrary direction, with the same velocity, 
yet it would not have as great an influence on 
the Moon on account of its being 4,000 miles 
farther oif from that satellite. 

The law of attraction of gravitation as 
laid down by an old author, which is that ''grav- 
ity varies inversely as the square of the distance 
from the center increases " probably holds good 
in all cases, and no doubt will pi'ove true when 
applied to the spheres I have been describing. 
According to this old established law, the theo- 
ry which I have been suj)porting can be clearly 
set forth by a mathematical demonstration. To 
find the force that moves the Moon about the 
Earth, it is first required of you to find the dif- 
fej-ence of attraction of the nearer and farther 
hemisphei'e of the Earth on that satellite; by 
finding this difference, jon find the attracting 
force in the hemisphei'e of the Earth that 
moves the Moon in its orbit. It is the attrac- 



U MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

turn of tlie Earth in that part nearest to tlie 
satellite that causes it to take up an orbital mo- 
tion, as the side of onr sphere, that faces this 
satellite moves awaj or around it draws the sat- 
ellite aftei* it continually. The further off an 
object or a satellite is from the Earth, the less 
it will be attracted, and consequently the slower 
it will move in its orl)it. I believe the rule for 
the times of the revolution of a planet, satel- 
lite or object is about as Xewton and Kepler 
give it. If this atti-active force will cause or 
assist in causing a balloon to go around its cen- 
ter of attraction, the centei* of the Earth, and 
will cause an object ten thousand miles high to 
go around this mass of attraction, and will also 
cause the Moon to revolve in its orbit. What 
else will it do? This same attractive force 
when it is acting in the Sun, the centei* of our 
solar system, that great center of gi'avity, as it 
turns on its axis every twenty-five days, will 
cause its whole system of planets to revolve in 
their orbits. Mercury, that swiftly flying mes- 
senger being nearest that great center of at- 
traction, speeds on its way the swiftest of them 
all. Away off, after a long seai'ch, you may see 



ESSAY 11. 45 



a little spark in the heavens called Neptnne, 
the most distant planet from the Sun of them all, 
and the slowest moving planet of the system. 
It appears as the Sun moves its surface around, 
each one of the planets are drawn after that 
mo vino- surface, still continuino; in their effort 
as they are attracted by the nearer attraction of 
the Sun to face the same side, they fail to keep 
up with that luminary's axial motion, and are 
observed to lag behind. If the planet Mercury 
was onl}^ distant from the Sun a few million 
miles, it wxnild then perform its orbital revolu- 
tion in about the same time the Sun rotates on 
its axis. 

Just hei'e j^ou may ask, for here is the 
place for the question. What makes the Sun ro- 
tate on its axis? I will try and answer that 
qnestion as well as it can be answered. My an- 
sw9r does not give any certain reason. It has 
been ascertained, by the observations of astron- 
omers that the Sun moves in an orbit about 
some common center. From wdiat I have 
learned about this luminary's physical appear- 
ance and its positions, I believe it does have an 
orbital motion. xVs we know but little about 



46 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

its relation to other Suns, it is impossible to give 
any certain reason for its oj'bital motion, but 
we no doubt are safe in sajiijg gravitation, elec- 
tricity, and change in temperature, influence 
that great sphere in its orbital course. 

Now as I am (X)nvinced, ^nd tlie proof 
shows, that the Sun has an orbital motion, I 
therefore conclude .that about the same laws 
govern its axial motion that control that motion 
in the planets. The axial motion of the plan- 
ets I have discussed at length elsewhere, and I 
find no room for an explanation of those laws 
here. 

It may be just, while continuing this sub- 
ject, to speak of the orbital motion of the iniier 
satellite of the planet Mars. This satellite 
performs its orbital revolution in less time, than 
that planet rotates on its axis. If a satellite of 
Mars does really have this rapid moticm, it can 
be accounted for, and accords with the laws of 
motion embodied in the theory I have been 
attempting to explain. There can be an orbital 
course pursued by a planet or a satellite under 
certain conditions, in which it will have a ten- 



ESSAY II. 47 



deiicy to move faster than the attraction that 
sends it on; but snch a motion is an exception 
to the general rule. Until this inner satellite 
of Mars was discovered by Hall in 1877, all 
authorities on the motion of planets and their 
satellites laid it down as a universal law that the 
principal rotated on its axis in less time than 
its planet or satellite performed a revolution in 
its orbit. 

There are some other satellites which have 
very strange motions. These remarkable ones 
are those of Uranus and Neptune. These plan- 
ets as well as their satellites are set away off so 
far in the heavens that it is difficult for the 
observer to tell much abont them. But satel- 
lites have been discovered revolving around 
these planets in very peculiar orbits. It is and 
always has been very difficult to trace these sat- 
ellites in their orbits, but from all observations 
thus far taken the orbital motion of the satel- 
lites of these planets, as well as the axial motion 
of the planets themselves, does not exactly agree 
in all respects with the general motions of the 
planets or conform very well to the laws that 



48 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

govern these general motions. I have spoken 
of the axial motion of Uranr.s and Neptnne as 
if some astromjiner had discovered from obser- 
vation that these planets have an axial n^otion. 
If tliese planets are in the same state of growth 
as the Earth, I believe they have an axial 
motion, not because it has been recorded so by 
some observer, but because the orbital motion 
of a planet or satellite is generally wholly 
caused from or results from such a primnpaPs 
axial motion. The axial motion of tliese plan- 
ets, I believe when discovered by observation 
w^ll be found to be in nearly the same plane as 
the orbits of their satellites. 

It is not only satellites and great planets 
that are swayed by this natni*al law, but that 
nnnnmbered host of asteroids, wdiich traverse 
inter-planetary space in their certain and rapid 
way, are cari'ied on in their circuits, by their 
principal's axial motion. 

What I have said in discussing this subject 
has been with an honest purpose, and with due 
respect to the professional scientist, either the 
dead or the living. I trust the reader will re- 



ESSAY IL 49 



gard the author of this production as a person 
"subject to err," but wlio with the most modern 
scientific facts and theories has labored for the 
truth and done liis best to clearly comprehend 
and explain a great law of physical science. 



ESSAY III. 



COMETS— THEIK GENEKAL FOKMS AND MO- 
TIONS—WHY THEY AEE AS THEY ARE. 



In the year 1858, when I was a little chunk 
of a bov, not big enough to do much work, but 
just large enough to follow^ close on the heels 
of niY brotlier and learn the art of farming by 
following him about our farm, as he proceeded 
to do his work, which was weeding the garden, 
can-ying water to the field, milking the cows, 
churning, catching young chickens to fry for 
the town folks who made us frequent visits, 
and taking part in a great many other privi- 
leges that farmei" boys ai'e especially favored 
with3 all of which I cannot here mention; it 
was betw^een these little exercises and when our 
family were about to retire for their night's 
rest that w^e would all go from the house into 



ESSAY III. 51 



the yard to see the great comet that hung away 
off ill the heavens, and seemed to be hurrying 
away to an unknown destiny. All us observers 
had something to say about this fleet messenger, 
and among the rest sjDoke ''Old Mrs. Boys," an 
elderly lady, who in those days traveled about 
the country in cei'tain neighborhoods, piercing 
quilts, making straw hats, and doing her best in 
every way to make hei'self useful. She had a 
remarkabte physique, very tall, thin in flesh, 
big feet and hands, and as homely a face as I 
ever saw, and with all this appearance when 
she got a clay pipe to her mouth and began to 
pufi^ the incense of the tobacco weed, she would 
then present quite an aspect; she had a remark- 
able look, why shouldn't she have? Well, "Old 
Mrs. Boys" then had her talk, fehe told us the 
appearance of a comet was a warning of great 
trouble, something awful was to come over our 
country; we were a-goiug to have war! Didn't 
she strike it? For in about four years she hap- 
pened to be at our house again, and this won- 
derful prophetess remarked to each one 
separately and jointly: "Didirt 1 tell you so? 
I knewed so." Yes, she "knewed so," j)oor old 



52 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

lady^ she is in her grave now, no doubt, and 
has carried her knowledge or foreknowledge 
with her. 

It is strange that until this day, when i 
hear a person say a comet is the herald of war, 
I see the visage o± ''Old Mrs. Boys" before me, 
and hear her rej)eat, as I have heard her repeat 
before: ''Didn't I tell you so? I knewed so." 

There are persons, no doubt, and many 
persons, who believe as "Old Mrs. Boys" be- 
lieved, but we don't often meet them. There 
are people who are so situated that they can 
not or will not acquire any education. All 
persons who can read should know that comets 
are governed in their movements by physical 
laws which, when fixed, so bind the wanderer 
that his opportunity for breaking away froui 
these fast-holding physical principles, for the 
purpose of visiting a certain republic or king- 
dom on the Earth is extj-emel}^ bad. 

From remote times, astronomers have spent 
much time trying to investigate the composi- 
tion of comets, and the result of different men's 
efforts are not exactly alike in some minor 
respects, but in general they are the same. 



ESSAY III. 53 



Thev conclude that these mvsterions travelers 
of ethereal spac<e are composed of a very light 
substance or fluid. It may differ, perhaps, 
frr'm any gas or composition of gases on our 
globe. There have been but occasionally some 
seen which indicate any of their pai'ts to be 
composed of S(jlid matter. The most dense or 
the solidest part of a comet seems to be in the 
nucleus. This apparent center of many of the 
comets which have been particularly observed, 
seems to be in such a mass, that the general 
opinion from all obsei-vations is that they are 
either solid bodies of matter, particles of matter 
not yet consolidated, or very moist aii* or vapor, 
or else a composition of dense gases. 

The head of a comet comprises the necleus 
and coma; the coma surrounds the nucleus, and 
is of a thinner and lighter composition; the 
head has much the appearance of a common star, 
and compares in bulk to some of the planets of 
the solar system, being thousands of miles in 
diameter. Attached to this head is that part of 
the comet known as the tail, which generally 
accompanies it. This tail is composed of 
a very rare medium; it is, perhaps, a fluid 



54 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS, 

thinner than any gaseous composition we know 
of, but still it seems to have the power of re- 
flecting light. It has been often observed that 
when this tail goes between us and one of the 
fixed stars the star is not dimmed but a very 
little. 

The comet's tail is often very long, some- 
times extending out into ethereal space a dis- 
tance of millions of miles; it seems to not have 
a uniform size, where it joins the head it ap- 
pears to be narrow^er and denser than it is at its 
extremity, for there it seems to gradually 
spread out or become more bulky. The width 
of the tail of a comet has been often observed 
to be thousands or millions of miles. The tail 
is always attached to the head on the side op- 
posite from the Sun; this is a remarkable fact, 
and one which has puzzled the minds of the 
astronomers ''from the time when the men^ory 
of man runneth not to the contrary." It is 
said by the astronomer Dick that the tail of a 
comet is influenced by a resisting medium in 
space, which tends to make it go behind its 
head. This statement of Dick agrees with the 
observation of others, but does not do away 



ESSAY III. 55 



witli the fact that this light gaseous appendage 
always points nearly directly from the Sun. 
There is a reason why tlie tail of a comet 
should have such a position, and I will endeavor 
to clearly explain this reason before quitting 
the subject. 

Thei'e is another natural feature of a cornet 
which has l)een looked upon as a mystery dur- 
ing all past ages. This wondei'ful and long 
perplexing phenomenon is, that its size differs 
greatly in bulk when it is in different parts of 
its orbit. 

The orbits of comets are very ellip- 
tical, sometimes being so much so that they 
reach the form of a pai*abolic or hypei-bolic 
orbit. AYhen they mc)ve in either of these two 
eccentric oi'bits, they seldom if ever return. 
Their orbital motion is much more rapid than 
that of the comets which move in elliptical 
orbits. They do not seem to belong to the solar 
system as other comets do, but are wanderers 
from some other system or else are foreign to 
all the systems of the unbounded whole, and 
rest or move through that vast ethereal spacQ 



56 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

between planets and about worlds at the bid- 
ding of nature's laws. 

The part of a comet's orbit the more dis- 
tant from the Sun is called its aphelion; that 
part nearer to the great luminary its j)erihelion. 
A comet is first generally seen in its aphelion, 
advancing tow^ard the Sun while here, and 
when it is about to enter its perihelion it is 
very small, but from this time on until it has 
passed its perihelion it increases in bulk, and 
now its tail, w^hich was hardly visible when it 
was about entering perihelion, seems expanded, 
and while this appendage points out directly 
from the head of the comet on the side opposite 
from the Sun, it spreads away out into ethereal 
space for millions of miles. As this mj'sterious 
messenger leaves its herihelion and goes into 
its aphelion, it is at its greatest size; as it ad- 
van.ces on its way in its aphelion, it gradually 
becomes smaller. These changes in the size 
of the head and the tail of a comet or when 
there is no tail, the seeming expanding and en- 
larging of its mass when it is in its perihelion, 
are facts which, thouo-h mysterious, have been 
of interest to all the civilized woi-ld for many 



ESSAY III. 57 



years. My reason for there remarkable changes 
in the size of a comet will be given in the con- 
clusion of what I have to say on the snl)ject. 

The length of a comet's orbit is usually very 
great. Its least perihelion distance is sometimes 
less than a million or oulv a few million miles 
from the Sun, while its greatest aphelion dis- 
tance reaches veiw often the incomprehensible 
extent of billions of miles. From this unequal 
distance there has come a very perplexing ques- 
tion which the student who has been trying to 
solve the mysteries of these mysterious ethereal 
messengers usually put as follows: "If the 
comet is attracted by the Sun, from a position 
away beyond the planet Neptune, why don't it 
fall into the Sun when it comes only a million 
miles from it? Why does it leave the Sun 
when it has once come so near it, for that far off 
distant point again?" 

It seems to me that if attraction brino^s a 
comet to the Sun, it cannot be attraction that 
carries it away from that luminary. The force 
that takes it away must be opposite to the force 
that dravv's it to it. All astronomers who have 
tried to find a law that governs the orbital mo- 



58 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

tioDS of comets, seem to have come to no defin- 
ite coiiclnsion. Their motions, according to 
authorities I have perused on this subject, can- 
not he controlled by the same laws that cause a 
planet to revolve in its orbit. They seem to be 
of a different nature, and move through the 
heavens conti'olled in whole or in part bv other 
laws. 

I will hereafter speak of this strange fea- 
ture in tlie comet, and give a reason why they 
move, and why tlieir motions are as they are. 

Comets have swept tlirough the solar sys- 
tem ever since observations of the celestial 
world were first taken by our worthy ancestors. 
As far as we know, the}^ have always existed., 
and at an earlier growth of oui- solar system 
they may have been more uuinerous than they 
are now. 

The comet that was seen soon after the 
assassination of Julius Caesai- was vei-y remark- 
able, on account of its foi-m and brilliancy. 
The time of its return to perihelion has 
been calculated by astronomers to be 575 years. 
Its next return will take place in the year 
2255, too late for us to see it, but our posterity 



ESSA Y III. 59 



will, 110 doubt, behold that wonderful messen- 
ger. 

Halley's comet seems to be the one most 
famous at the present time. It was discovered 
in the year 1682 approaching perihelion. This 
comet is the one seen by Kepler in the year 
1607; it is supposed to have appeared at inter- 
vals of 75 or 76 years before it was seen by 
Kepler, and looking over the records, astrono- 
mers fonnd that it had appeared repeatedly at 
intervals of tim*e ao-reeino; to Halley's calcnla- 
tion, which was 75^ years. This calculation or 
prediction by Plalley was better substantiated 
by the appearance of this comet to perihelion 
in the year 1759; it came again to its perihelion 
in 1835, and it is expected again in 1911, when 
we fellows of this generation who survive the 
conflicts of this life until then must lay onr 
plans to see this great comet in all its splen- 
dor. 

In the year 1826, a comet was discovered 
by an Austrian named Biela, which was fonnd 
to be periodical, and after some search of for- 
mer comets that had been seen which compared 
in every respect to this one, it appeared that it 



60 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

had often been seen before. Its time .of revo- 
lution, was fonncl to be nearly seven years. Tliis 
comet in 1846 appeared to meet with an acci- 
dent, for, during tlie month of Jannar\^ in that 
year, the comet had divided itself into two 
parts, which gradually wandei'ed from eacli 
othei*, and advanced in this position until 
they were lost to view, away off in its aphelion. 
At the reondar time for its returnino' to 
perilielion, in the year 1S52, tliis comet, or botli 
parts of it, (which may be called two comets) 
appeared again, and when it left its perihelion 
this time, it seeins to have gon.e for good, for it 
has never appeared since. 

The comet known as *'Encke''s Comet," is 
one which has excited a great deal of attention 
and study daring tlie past century. It was first 
seen in January, ITSG, by Encke, a German 
astronomei*. The time it takes this comet to 
revolve in its orbit is a little over thi'ee years, 
which is a very shoi't period for a comet to 
make a i-evolution. Encke, during his lifetime, 
took repeated observations of this traveler 
and found the time of its revolution to con- 
tinually become shorter. He could find no 



ESS A Y in. 61 



reason why this time should become sliorter, 
unless the comet met with a resisting medi 
uni in space, whicli lie, as well as other 
authorities believed would shorten the length 
of its orbit, cause it to go nearer the Sun, 
and consequently move more rapidly. He 
therefore stated to the world, from the facts 
under his observation, he concluded there is a 
resisting medium in space. An astronomer by 
the name of Yon Asten has been of late inves- 
tigating the movements of this comet, and seems 
to have arrived at Encke's conclusion. 

A host of other comets might be mentioned 
which would be of interest, but my purpose in 
this production is not to describe all these 
heralds of ethereal space, but to give reasons 
for their general physical appearance. I have 
tried thus far to show what their general ap- 
pearances are, and now I will attempt to give 
reasons for those very mysterious natural ap- 
pearances. 

Why do they have such peculiar orbits? 
Why do they expand and become larger when 
they get near the Sun? Why do their tails 
always point from the Sun? Why don't they 



62 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

go into the Sun when they apjD roach it, if the 
attraction of that body all the time increases, 
and what takes them away from the Sun? 
These are the questions that the professor, the 
tutor and the student of astronomy have liad 
rung in their ears ever since men have known 
enough to ask them. 

If I could have satisfied my mind with any 
reasons given that I have ever seen attempting 
to answer these questions, I would not liave 
spent my time by a long course of study with 
concluding months of hard woi'k trying to solve 
these problems of physical science. 

After looking about for an example so that 
I might explain, in a clear and satisfactory wa}^, 
the cause of the general motions and forms of 
comets, I think I have at last found a simple 
and near at hand comparison, by which I may 
illustrate the cause of the general forms and 
motions of these mysterious travelers of ethereal 
space. 

Did you ever study the cause of the move- 
ments of rain or dew? If you have, you no 
doubt learned that the water that falls from 
the atmosphere above us has many times before 



ESSAY III. 63 



been on the Earth's surface, it is always ''on 
the go." Sometimes it comes down in torrents 
from the on moving thunder cloud aiid at 
other times it gently and quietly settles on 
leaf and flower, from out a cloudless sky, at 
times we may notice tlie process of evapora- 
tion is going on, and the rain and dew which 
has descended is being taken up and away, 
by some fountain of heat, and as it sepa- 
rates and forms into little, inflated globes^ 
each molecule floats np and away. When at 
last these inflated molecules come in contact 
with a cold stratum of atmosphere they con- 
dense or contract, and when this state of nature 
exists, they no longer have the power within 
themselves to keep away from their center of 
gravity, so they stai-t at once toward the surface 
of the Earth, and in this way, these little mes- 
sengers, globes, comets or balloons continue 
their motion in an endless circuit in their im- 
portant mission. 

How^ nmch like the comet is the rain cloud; 
in one as in the other their little inflated mole- 
cules, like their whole gaseous bulks, have their 
heavier sides turned toward their centers of 



64 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

gravity; in one as in the other each little in- 
flated molecnle, like their whole gaseous bulks, 
are expanded by heat and contracted by cold;, 
and in one as in the other each little inflated 
molecule, as well as their wliole gaseous bulks, 
are floatino; in a medium and w toward their 
center of gravity or away from it, according to 
their contraction or expansion. 

The comet's orbit to us observers on Earth 
is very strange. Placing one of these mysteri- 
ous orbital moving bodies away out at its great- 
est distance in the aplielion part of its orbit, 
being 3,000,000,000 miles, in a vaporous or 
gaseous form, or having its nucleus of a solid, 
or nearh^ a solid, composition, the whole bulk 
having a diameter of 20,000 miles; at that 
great distance from the Sun, it finds old Dame 
Nature in this wonderful system of ours drawing 
it. There is nothing now to hinder it from 
m;)in2:, and when attracted it vields to this force 
and gradually begins to move swifter and 
swifter in its course; on faster and faster it 
speeds as it approaches perihelion, and as it 
draws nearer and nearer it begins to grow 
larger; it begins to expand from the heat it 



ESSAY III. 65 



receives from the Sun's hot, piercing rays, and 
from friction which is produced by its rapid 
flight through that far off ocean of ether, and 
througli the solar system's more dense medium. 

The more solid portions of this swift mes- 
senger are hurried the faster on account of 
their greater attraction for the Sun, while the 
ligliter parts lag behind and form w^hat is known 
as the tail. This tail, as it approaches nearer 
and nearer to the Sun, on account of friction 
from the iiiedium it is so swiftl}^ gliding 
through, and the Sun's hot rays, becomes lighter 
than the medium it is euteriug, which medium 
gradually becomes more compact. Wh 'e tf -^ 
state of nature exists, the tail tries to (^ont.x*! 
the head, and as they pass around in their peii- 
lielion, the tail appears to, and does endeavor 
with all its natural powei' to draw the head out 
into a lighter medium, while the head, though 
greatly expanded, and perhaps less subject to 
the attractions of the Sun than it was when it 
started for its perihelion, still tries to draw the 
tail towards the Sun. 

The struggle continues, and now when this 



66 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

swift messenger is about to return to aphelion 
its great bulk, which was at one time but twenty 
thousand miles in diameter, if it w^as in a 
globular form, would -measure two million 
miles in diameter, and most of this expanded 
bulk of the comet's composition is in its great 
tail. 

The contest between gravity and heat still 
continues — till flnallv heat siets the better of its 
adversary, and having overpowered it, that great 
messenger's tail rules its head. The tail be- 
comes master, though the head still contends 
to have its way, and goes to its center of attrac- 
tion. The tail by its action seems to be com- 
pelled to say: "Follow me; its too hot here; I 
will take you back to my home; and when I 
get cooled off, according to our general custom 
you may bring me here again. Come! come! 
come!" and they go. The balloon ascends 
gracefully and peacefully, the arched heavens 
in all their radial splendor are not jarred or 
molested by this grand contest between the 
forces of nature, which we creatures of kindred 



ESSAY III. G7 



appreciation, in this glorious world are per- 
mitted to beliold. 

We lowly creatures, gazers while we gaze. 
Beliold tills grandeur of Dame Nature, s ways; 
We can't content ourselves witli earthly things, 
But in eternal space must spread our wings. 
To there explore by light of reason crowned 
The whys and wherefores of the sights around. 
Content at last we leave that heavenly dome, 
And coming nearer Earth, get nearer home. 



ESSAY IV. 



PKODUCTION AND DESTRUCTION OF WOELDS. 



It seems strange to me, but though straiige 
it is true that I have now arrived at a time 
when I will publicly express my opinion, and 
as well as I can, give the science of the forma- 
tion of the solar system. 

Oftentimes when w^e start out on a mission 
we do not anticipate what our labors will be 
before we are through. I believe that all 
branches of science are to the ambition what 
all lines of trades, occupations, virtues and 
vices are. When we get really started in a 
course, and as we proceed, are all the while 
finding new hope and the expectation of joy 
and gain, there often becomes in our minds an 
ungovernable desire to go on. 



ESSAY IV, G9 



A person may be led to a great fountain 
of that precious metal gold, by simply discov- 
ering a little of its dust; and, on the contrary, 
by a discover}' of a little of this precious dust, 
one may be led to the bottom of an empty, 
worthless pit, in the digging of which he has 
forsaken friends, spent his fortune and wasted 
his life. But whether success crowns our effort 
or not, there is a duty each of us owe to our- 
selves and mankind, and that duty is to ''do 
something." That high prerogative and uni- 
versal privilege, which we are all favored with, 
is that, we ail have the i-ight to labor, ''we all 
have the liberty to dig." 

One of my first undertakings in the study 
of physical astronomy was to discover a natural 
law that would cause the Earth to rotate on its 
axis in the direction it now is rotating. All 
was blank and dark at first; but by-and-bye 
the light of reason shone out upon this dark 
chaos of confusion, and I was able at length to 
give a reasonable answer for the axial motion 
of our sphere. From this axial motion of our 
globe I went with our planet in its orbit to find 
why it had an orbital motion^ and wheu I had 



to 



70 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

fully satisfied my mind, as to what .was the 
cause of its orbital motion, I left this sphere 
for other worlds, going on and on from one 
part of this wonderful machine to another, 
until I had traced out to their vei'y sources the 
general motions of the members of this grand 
sj'stem. When this was finished there came 
into my mind that long-important question, 
that topmost problem in physical astronomy, 
that question of the past and present, and the 
one I will now proceed to answer is: How^ did 
the solar systeui originate? 

La Place, tliat genius of a Frenchman ; 
Herschel, that great astronomer who saw so 
many wonders in the celestial world ; Kant, that 
man of remarkable skill in mechanical laws, 
and other heroes of the past, have given their 
understanding of the formation of the solar 
system. 

These gentlemen are remarkable men, — 
they have each given breadth to men's mode 
of reasoning, and pictured out in sublime 
grandeur the w^ay chaos in the beginning may 
have been changed to cosmos. They are men 
w^orthy of all the praise and honor w^hich has 



ESSAY IV. 71 



been bestowed upon them. I would not differ 
with them or either of them if I could possibly 
agree with them or either of them. I can agree 
witli them in many respects, but in some im- 
p;ortant principles I cannot understand their 
philosopliy, and, as I have wandered from the 
old course of astronomers, or have taken my 
own course since first I began to study the laws 
that govern the movements in our planetary 
system, I will take my own course in this in- 
tance, and endeavor to advocate only that which 
seems to me to be true. 

The greatest trouble I have fonndin trying 
to believe the hypotheses on the formation of 
the solar system which have come nnder my 
observation, is where these theorists attempt to 
account for the revolution of a planet on its 
axis, and its motion in an elliptical orbit. The 
motions of comets, asteroids and satellites 
cannot be explained philosophically by these 
gentlemen's hypotheses. La Place's nebular 
hypothesis has no doubt been the most popular 
of them all, but liow can it account for the ro- 
tation of the planet Saturn on its axis at the 
present time, while its rings rotate about it. 



72 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

p'oino; ill the same directioii as the surface of 
the planet moves, and making their circuits 
nearly as quick as the planet rotates on its axis? 
How can this nebular hypothesis account for 
the very ecceutric orbits of comets, and how 
does it account for their going round the Sun 
in every dii-ection? I will not attempt to show 
all the reasons why I cannot believe fully in 
these cosmological hypotheses produced by 
worthy men mauy 3^ears ago. And now, with- 
out trying to abolish their suppositious, or 
sayiug they are untrue, 1 w^ill proceed to explain 
m}^ understanduig of the formation of this 
world—which has been, and now is (in some 
respects) constantly but slowly changiug — as 
physical laws of the universe have taught me. 

How grand it is to think of our Sun, that 
central orb, as beino; the mother and father, 
tlie sister and brother, of all the movements in 
tliis wonderful system of ours. 

i \ •• h you to imagine that in the begin - 
nhi^ — -• -tcr unnumbered centuries of growth — 
awpy out in ethereal space a bulk of chaotic 
matter partly solidified, millions of miles in 
diameter — which is to be our Sun — is floatiug 



ESSAY TV. 73 



away off midei" tlie iiiHneiice of physical laws. 
Now it is drawn this way by attraction, now 
sent til at way by its gi'oat mass being expanded 
by heat. AVhile it may as it goes, have an 
orbital motion with or without this orbit, having 
a center of gravity and it may also liave an 
axial motion from some natural cause as it 
advances around in its orbital course. Here it 
devours a great bulk of lost and bewildered 
ethereal vapor and there it comes in contact 
with a lost chaotic wanderer which it consumes, 
while all this is going on, a wandering bulk of 
ethereal, vaporous, chaotic composition — whicli 
is to be tlie Earth — sees the light of a star of 
the first magnitude — the future Sun — approach- 
iug. Nearer and nearer it comes, and larger 
and lai'ger it grows, until it seems to be a 
great ball of fire. This bulk of wander- 
ing chaos which has been unmolested, now 
seems to be drawn toward that 2:lowino' orb, 
and being unable to resist such a power of 
attraction, it gradually begins to move nearer 
and nearer to that great hot center of grav- 
ity; but soon it becomes subject to a law, 
that attempts to carry it away from that 



74 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

strong, attracting mass, and ei-e .long the 
tail or main bulk of this cometar}^ traveler will 
have become ligliter than tlie medium it is en- 
tering near that infant Sun. Xow when this 
state of nature exists, those lighter parts of this 
infant Earth, endeavor with all their natural 
power to leave that hot center of gravity for a 
colder and rarer clime, these forces contend for 
mastery, and the struggle becomes fierce. 
That great fiery mass of chaotic matter endeav- 
ors to devour this smaller bulk, but tlie opposing 
natural law prevails, and this chaotic, bewild- 
ered, inflated, wanderer, with its lighter, vapor- 
ous, ethereal parts in advance, goes away off 
into the depths of cold, dark, ethereal space. 
But not there to remain, it will ere long return, 
and after years of travel away from that great 
attracting luminary which does never loosen its 
hold, it will have gradually changed its condi- 
tion and contracted its volume, it will then move 
slower and slower, till at last, it will be over- 
come by the strength of that continually 
attracting central power and it will advance 
again toward that hot centei* of gravity. By 
going this way in its elliptical course, it 



ESSAY lY. 



encounters small wandering cometary or ehaotic 
bnlks in ethereal space which it draws into its 
bulk bv the streno-th of its attraction, and so it 
continnes to grow, and go on around that great 
center of attraction in this wav for unnumbered 
centuries. 

That great, massive biminary draws other 
chaotic bodies to it. Some go around it and 
then away off in the aphelion part of their 
orbits to return ao^ain in future years. Others 
on going nearer and nearer get under complete 
control of the gravitating power of that great 
mass and are soon swallowed up by that fiery, 
devouring, monster, never to be seen again, 
while others come, go around that great center 
of attraction and go off into space never to re- 
turn ao;ain. After hundreds or thousands of 
centuries some of these orbital wandering bulks 
wdiich have performed continued revolutions 
about tlie Sun, become gradually more and 
more solidified, their orbits have been slowly 
changing and are now less eccentric. Their 
masses under the law of 2:i'avitv have become 
round and now the extreme heat which cause 
them in one part of their orbits to become a 



76 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVEN'S. 

lieiT, molten mass no longer can prodnee tliat 
effect. 

These wondei-fiil balks of chaos have 
turned to cosmos; and as tliey revolve about 
their center of gravity, by a slight change in 
their controlling lav/s, they have all taken an 
orbital course in the same direction their great 
center of attraction rotates on it axis, and are 
borne on and on in their oi'bital paths by the 
nearer attraction of that g]*eat rotating center 
of gravity, which has gradually — while coming 
to its present condition, owing to its surround ^ 
ings — taken np a regular axial motion. They 
are now held in their orbits, which are almost 
circular, by a centrifugal fcn-ce in that great 
center of gravity eqnal to a centripetal force in 
that luige mass. The reason why their orbits 
are elliptical 1 will not attempt here fully to 
state, but will say the principal cause of such 
a circuit is on account of their cometary nature 
wliich they have ]K)t entirely tln'own off. There 
are other natural laws that influence a planet to 
go in an elliptical course, whicli I cannot here 
mention, nor is it necessary in the discussion of 
this subject to give them. 



ESSAY IV. 11 



While our planets were coming to their 
present state of existence they met with nebu- 
lous chaotic bulks in ethereal space, which they 
attracted toward themselves. Some of these 
bodies, owing to their peculiar composition, 
were regulated by the same laws that caused 
the larger bulks to go round the Sun, and con- 
sequently these smaller bodies went around 
their principals, changing hi to a more solid 
form as their principals changed, and modify- 
ino' their motions and chan^'ino; their orbits to 
suit each progressive step. As this process of 
world making went on, and our planets and their 
satellites were forming, it is very reasonable to 
believe that while they were coming to their 
present state of existence some developed faster 
than others. It seems to me that those of our 
planets, which in form and motion are most 
like the comet of to-day, are the youngest, or if 
not the youngest, they have not developed from 
a chaotic state like some of the others. The 
planet Mars may be one of this class, and if 
such is the case, his inner satellite, if he has 
one, being in the same natural condition, its 
rapid motion can be easily accounted for, be- 



78 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

cause then this swiftly moving satellite would 
be cometary and planetary, and being of this 
semi-planetary nature, it would be urged on in 
its orbit by the laws which control the motion 
of comets as well as those that control the 
planets and most all their satellites in their or- 
bital courses. The planets Uranus and Nep- 
tune may be in some kind of a semi-chaotic 
state, and if such is the case, there could be 
satellites revolving about them, very rapidly, in 
any direction. 

While our planets and their satellites and 
the asteroids were coming to their present con- 
dition from those chaotic, vaporous, ethereal 
bulks; there were no doubt thousands of just 
such bodies destroyed. Many were consumed 
by the feun; others met w^th accidents, and 
were scattered throughout ethereal space ; while 
some others w^andered away off into other 
woi'lds, never to appear in this system again. 

When these planets had come to nearly 
their present physical condition, it could have 
been observed that the once great bulk of ether- 
eal vaporous fluid, which had carried them oif 
from the Sun had disajDpeared, and while their 



ESSAY IV. 79 



motion in their orbits had undergone quite a 
change, this planet Earth — as well as other 
planets — had constantly been preparing itself 
for another motion. It is clothed all around 
now by a dense, deep atmosphere; great oceans 
of water inhabit this globe; the hot rays of the 
Sun pour down on one-half of our sphere and 
greatly expand it, while tlie other side be- 
comes cold and contracted. As the Earth now 
hurries on in its course at the rapid rate of over 
1,100 miles in a minute, the expanded side of 
this sphere, in proportion to its weight, receives 
more resistance from that fine ethereal medium 
of space, and is moved to the rear, while the 
heavier side, being more attracted by the Sun, 
in proportion to its bulk, advances willingly to 
face that great center of gravity. The motion 
has now begun, and ere long it becomes regu- 
lar, and this globe spins around on its axis, 
controlled by those grand physical laws which 
give ns the opportunity of seeing nearly the 
entire celestial world in twenty-four hours. 

When this great system of ours was form- 
ing and coming to its present state of existence, 
it may have been that some of our planets, 



80 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

satellites or asteroids, were not in the beginning, 
wandering, independent, chaotic nebulous bulks 
in ethereal space, but were a part of chaotic 
cometary wanderers, from which thej separated 
by some natural law, and when they left their 
parent bulks of chaos, they may have wandered 
away off in their own separate, individual 
orbits, or taken up a certain position near their 
protecting parent, about wdiich, under the laws 
that govern the comets' movements, or else, by 
the physical laws that cause a planet to revolve 
about the Sun, they took up an orbital motion, 
progressijg in their condition as their principals 
progressed, and changing their motions as their 
natural surroundings changed. 

Encke's comet, that strange messenger of 
ethereal space which revolves about the Sun in 
less than four years, may be looked upon as a 
young planet or an asteroid, and if it is not 
destroyed, or does not meet with an accident, it 
wall UG doubt, at some future time become a 
solid body of matter, w^ith an orbit like or simi- 
lar to the Earth's, and revolve about the Sun in 
a certain and fixed period of time. This 
comet's orbit is gradually becoming smaller 



ESSAY IV, 81 



and its time of revolution faster. According to 
my understanding this indicates, that it is 
becoming more condensed; more of a solid at 
eacli revolution. 

Biela's comet, which met with an accident 
in the year 1840, resembled in many respects 
that traveler, know^i as "Enke's Comet," and 
no doubt of it had survived all opposition, had 
had no wars within itself, continued to grow and 
thrive according to natural laws, at the present 
time we could observe it gradually developing 
into a planet of some kind. 

The little telescopic wanderer, known as 
''Fayes Comet," is without doubt, a young or 
or an old planet, and is either developing and 
oi-ganizing itself into a condition of cosmos, or 
else leaving such a state of existence, for a 
condition of chaos and confusion. As w^e ob- 
serve it, how like some of the asteroids it is. 
Tlie eccentricity of its orbit being 0.55 while 
that of the asteroid, Polyhymina is 0.33. 

There are other telescopic comets that re- 
seml)le in many resjDects the asteroids that have 
very ccentric orbits, among which may be men- 
tioned D'Arrest and Winneck's. These comets 



82 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

have much the appearance of asteroids, as they 
go roiuid the Snii in the same direction the 
asteroids revolve about tliat great center of at- 
traction and heat, in fact there seems to but a 
little difference between these small telescopic 
comets and these small telescopic plaiiets, and 
for .what is coinetary to become planetary, or 
what is planetary to become cometary, as it is 
swayed in the mighty hands of nature, would 
be but a natural and expected consequence, 
and then, after such a change, to become more 
cometarv, or more planetary, would be in keep- 
ing with the developiPig and declining work of 
nature. 

It is not at all probable, but there may be 
comets that never develop, that never change, 
and are to-day, and will be 1,00(7,000 years 
from now, what they were 1,000,000 years 
ago. Comets that appear as foggy mist away 
off in the heavens now, may have been of that 
thin composition when our Earth was a chaotic 
bulk in a cometary state. Worlds grow as 
other things grow. Worlds survive or perish 
in accordance with their natural surroundings. 

My father set out one hundred apple trees 



ESSAY IV. 83 



in his orchard several years ago. On visiting 
that orchard not lono^ since, I observed the 
condition of several of those trees. ''Plere/* 
said my brother, "the ten trees in this row are 
bell-flowers; three of them died the third year; 
one was gnawed by the rabbits last winter, and 
was dead this spring; the other six are living 
and doing well." 

I look at the six thrifty bell-flower trees 
which were loaded with frnit, and then at the 
dead ones for years standing in that condition, 
and then observed for a while the one that had 
died the winter previous. This tree was larger 
by half than the ones that had died first, and 
the liviiio- ones seemed to be as larsre ao^ain as 
the last one that died. Why there should be 
such a difference in these living trees and the 
one that died but six months before, I could 
not understand. But my brother soon made 
the case plain by saying, "You would have 
known long ago, if you had been around here 
and taken care of them, that that tree was a 
runt; it seemed to be dwarfish; it no doubt 
was stunted in some way, and never developed 
like the others." 



84 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

Wliile I have been studying, about the 
growth of worlds, I have thought that the 
eight planets of our solar system are much like 
these thrifty bell-flower trees I saw in my 
father's orchard, which have been able to en- 
large their bulks b}' natural grow^th. That 
stunted tree was the slow growth runt, it did 
not develop rapidly and was in danger of being 
destroyed by a very slight cause. It did not 
possess the vigor or constitution of those thrifty 
ones; though I have seen runts come out as 
large as the largest, such is not the usual 
case. A runt planet is one which is not capable 
of keeping up its growth with others of the 
same age. It does not seem to have the wall or 
power to draw to and add to itself from its 
surroundings, as the vigorous thrifty planet 
does. ^^- 

Those dead trees may have died from the 
results of an attack by an enemy or a destroyer 
in the shape of an insect, worm, gopher, rabbit, 
beast or man, which often occasion the death of 
such trees; or else they may have been shaded 
too much, and the vitalizing fluids that should 
have nourished them above and below the sur- 



ESSAY TV. 85 



face of the o;rouiH], wei'C prevented from so 
doing by the rank growth of vegetation which 
overtopped and surrounded theni. Dead planets 
are those that liave lost their power and eneigy 
to become something more than they are. 
Althongli the properties of matter in them may 
be the same as in thrifty planets, so far as 
attractive laws go, yet from some cause, owing 
to their condition, they do not have the power 
to add to themselves from their surroundings, 
but if there are anj^ changes in their bulks, 
they are losing, while perhaps some thriftier 
planet near by gets their loss. 

Nature reproduces itself. The tlii-ifty 
forest tree which we look at to-day has the same 
properties of matter and life in it that forest 
trees had in them thousands of years ago. The 
planet that we say is living and thriving to-day, 
and which we class as cosmos, may be dead at 
some future time, envelop itself in a great 
ethereal vaporous cometary garb and return to 
its original condition of chaos, whose orbit may 
become so eccentric that it will ere long, leave 
its center of attraction — the Sun — and go wan- 
dering away off to some distant star through 



86 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

the deep, dark deptlis of ethereal space, to 
develop into a new planet, or disseminate itself 
about and between systems, there to become the 
food of aged or infant worlds. 



ESSAY V. 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE TIDES. 



It has been said that an ancient Briton, 
about fifteen hundred years ago, lived on the 
southern shore of his ishmd lionie — which is 
now known as tlie southein coast of Enorland — 
and there, day after day, and year after year, 
watched the ebbing and flowing of the ocean's 
tides to discover, if possible, the cause of their 
motions. There he meditated, there he ob- 
served and pondered; till at last, perplexed and 
confused to the utmost extreme, he one day 
broke out in a wild fit of anger, after which, 
the eyes of a raving maniac told of the disor- 
dei*ed brain of a semi-barbarian. 

The race of mankind from an early exist- 
ence has labored with all its skill and talent 
to understand whv the tide^ of the ocean ebb 



88 MA^CHINERY OF THE HEAVEXS. 

and flow; to tell why they rise and fall has been 
the study of the scientist since he first existed. 
Among those who haye labored in this noble 
cause, we can can point out some ^yho haye 
fallen by the way hopeless lunatics, others in 
poverty and dirt have gone to their cold and 
lonesome resting places, pronounced imbecils 
made so bj want and dissappointment, while 
others have given a spark of light to this once 
bleak subject and gone to their final resting 
place leaving wealth, friendship, and an hon- 
ored name behind them. Of the latter class 
Sir Isaac Newton is probably the most noted, 
for he seems to have accomplished more from 
his study of the tides than any one at, before, 
or after his day. Sir Isaac's theory of the tides 
has come down to this generation and is the one 
most generally taught to the students of our 
schools and colleges. 

Sir Isaac's theory lias successfully stood 
against the attacks of its enemies for more than 
two hundred years and what tliere is of truth in 
it, will, and should, endure the criticism of all 
ages in all centuries to come. 

In this essay I will not give a very full 



ESSAY V 



description of the tides. You doubtless all know 
how and when they rise and fall and many ot 
yon no doubt have felt and observed these won- 
derful motions. 

The tides that face the Sun and Moon are 
caused by the attraction of these luminaries on 
this liquid substance which is heaped up on the 
side of the Earth that faces these attracting 
spheres. On the side of our planet opposite 
from the Sun or Moon the tide always rises 
about as high as it does on the side of our 
sphere nearest either of said Inminaries, conse- 
quently when the Sun and Moon act together 
we have spring tides, which shonld bring ns two 
high tides a day^ but when the Moon is near 
quadrature, that is about ninety degrees from 
the Sun; these luminaries act separately, pro- 
ducing what may be called neap tides, which 
should bring us fonr low tides a day. 

I will not attempt, in this short essay, to 
give all the special appearances, motions and 
heights of the tides ; nor will I here attempt 
to show how mucli greater influence the Moon 
has than the Sun, in producing these great 
tides that are ever and always, apparently, trav- 



90 MACHIXERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

eliiig from east lowest about our glol>e, doing 
their best to keep directly under the Sun and 
Moon, but on account of the numerous obstacles 
in their way, thej^ very often come far short 
of their natural inclination. 

As tlie tides pass over mid ocean they only 
]*ise to tlie height of a few feet, but when they 
sweep U23 a bay or river that nai-rows gradually 
from its moutli, they then sometimes heap up, 
toward the head of such an ocean hai'bor, to 
the height of fifty feet. 

The philosophy of the tides as taught 
from the books of nn^ school days is the same 
philosophy that is taught in our schools to-day, 
and this philosophy I will briefly give, for the 
purpose of finally showing the unreasonable- 
ness of some old theories, and the plausibility 
of a new one, on the cause of the tide on the 
opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and 
Moon. 

As Elias Loomis' Asti'onomy is near at 
hand. I take it and turn to where he discusses 
the subject of tides in that popular book, and 
while I read and meditate T decide at last to 
agree with him in his philosophy, until he at- 



ESSAY V. 01 



tempts to give a reason for the rising of the 
tide on tlie opposite side of the Earth from the 
Sun and Moon. This tide, the learned gentle- 
man says, is caused by these attracting spheres 
pulling the solid portion of the Earth away 
from the water that is farthest from said at- 
tracting masses of matter, which is consequently 
less attracted, and therefore left behind to heap 
up, and so form out of our globe an oblong 
sphere or an ellipsoid. Such is some of the 
philosophy of the tides, as taught by Sir Isaac 
Xewton. Such is a part of the tide theory that 
is taught by some of my old friends, the 
teachers to some of my new friends, the 
students of to-day. 

That grand old English barrister. Black- 
stone, has said, ''that law is best which is most 
reasonable," and he well could have added, 
''that philosophy is best, which is most reason- 
able." 

Closing Loomis's Astronomy, 1 turn over 
the leaves of Mitchell's Physical Geography 
till T con:ie to the place where tlie author, Prof. 
Brocklesby, discusses the subject of the tides, 
and finding he has used the same philosophy 



92 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

ii] discussing this subject that Prof.. Loomis 
uses, I shnt the book and look about to find 
other and, if possible, better reasons for the 
rising of a tide on the opposite side of the 
Earth from the Snn and Moon. Soon I have 
Guyot's Physical Geography befoi-e me, and 
after studying over what this author has to say 
on the philosophy of the tides, I conclude that 
Gnyot reasons, as Loomis and Brockleby do, 
until he philosophizes on the cause of the tide 
on the opposite side of the Eai'th from the Sun 
and Moon. When he reaches this part of the 
subject, he branches off in a strange and 
peculiar way of reasoning, that does not cease 
until the author hcas tangled himself, as well as 
those who follow him, in the worst webs of 
sophistry. Mr. Guyot reasons about in this 
manner when he tries to account foi* the tide on 
the opposite side of the Eai'th from its great 
attracting luminaries. "As the w^atei* on the 
sides of the Eai'th is nearer to these attracting 
spheres, than the water on the opposite side of 
our globe from the Sun and Moon, it is conse- 
quently more attracted toward the center of 
the Earth, and as this water on the sides of 



ESSAY V. 93 



our sphere is pulled toward the center of the 
Earth more strongly than the water on the side 
opposite from these attracting luminaries, it 
consequently causes the water to heap up or 
bulge out on that side opposite from these at- 
tracting spheres." Can the student understand 
that? I have given Mr. Guyot's theory a plain 
and correct showing, and from what I have 
said as to his philosophy on this certain part of 
the subject. What does our modern scientist 
think of it? 

When I was a youth at school I devoured 
many things, w^ith iny young mind, that did 
not exactly agree with the digesting organs of 
my brain, but as the child swallows sweet oil 
because he is persuaded it is good, or because the 
nurse happens to have more muscle. So I took 
d.)wn some unpleasant draughts because I was 
told they would do me good, or because I was 
overpowered and compelled to. "The end 
justifies the means," our teacher would say, and 
the means, if rightly applied means something 
to the end. 

After some years of patient study and 
thought on the philosophy of the tides, I have 



94 MACni^^ERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

at last come to a very plain, simple, and to me sat- 
isfactory^ explanation for the tide that occurs on 
the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun or 
Moon. And now, after I give my reason for 
not accepting the theory as laid down by Mr. 
Gngot, Loomis and otliers as correct^ I will 
proceed to tell yon what I think causes the tide 
on the opposite side of our sphere from those 
great attracting luminaries. 

I will not take up much time in showing 
you the absurdities of Mr. Guyot's philosophy; 
you need only to stud}^ his premises to find the 
weakness of his logic. To make it plain, let 
me show you how he reasons, "Placing the 
Moon above the equater at ninety degrees west 
longitude, it will attract the water of the Earth 
most at that point, therefore a tide will be 
raised there. Xow on a circuit about said point, 
at a distance of ninety degrees fj'om it, the 
water of the earth will be n)ore attracted by 
the center of the Earth than the water on our 
globe, about a point on the equator, ninety de- 
s:rees east lono;itude, therefore the water at 
ninety degrees east longitude will be heaped 
np or bulged out." You admit Guyot's pre- 



ESSAY V. 95 



mises, and where do you get to? Some one 
answers *'jnst wliere he wants you." He makes 
his statement for a purpose and that purpose is 
to have you believe it without knowing why 
you believe. Mr. Guyot deals altogether with 
centripetal force, leaving out centrifugal force 
entirely, and therein lies his error. 

A part of the theory given by Guyot seems 
to be ver}' preposterous and does it not seem to 
you that the water on our globe opposite from 
the side next to the attraction, in the absence of 
centrifugal force, should be drawn more strongly 
by centripetal force tow^ard the center of the 
Earth than any other water on the face of our 
globe? for it does not only have the center of 
our sphere to attract it but it has another or 
other great atti-acting spheres pulling it in the 
same direction. 

The cause of this peculiar tide as given by 
Mr. Loomis— being Newton's theory— -is a little 
more plausible than that given by Mr. Guyot. 
Mr. Loomis says, ''the Sun and Moon pull the 
Earth away from the water on the opposite 
side of our sphere and consequently leave 
it heaped up." You may notice that ho deals 



98 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

with centi'ipetal force, separately and alone, 
and that, in my jndgnient, is where his error 
lies, for if he had said, the Sun and Moon, by 
centrifagal forces swing out the water on onr 
sphere on the side opposite from them, he would 
have penned, or uttered a philosophical truth, 
that wxiuld have been worthy of his considera- 
tion. 

It is difficult to illustrate, this Newtonian 
theory, for we cannot find anything that will 
act the part of the Sun and Moon, in produc- 
ing tides; but to elucidate. Let us take a rub- 
ber balloon, cover it with a thick liquid coating, 
then let it loose and see where the liquid cover- 
ing will proceed at once to collect. Will it 
]]ot rush to the side of most atti-action, and face 
the center of the Earth? WliLt do you think 
about it? Do you think the attraction of the 
Earth will draw the balloon away from the 
liquid surface covei'ing, and leave a tide heaped 
up on the opposite side of that little rubber 
ball? Will that liquid form into two tides, oi* 
one tide? According to the Xewlonian theory, 
it must form into two tides, but do you really 
think it absolutely necessary? 



ESSAY V. 97 



On approaching my "pliilosophy of the 
tides," I must remind you that I have attempted 
to explain and clearly show, in my orbital 
theory, on the cause of the orbital motion of the 
Earth and Moon, how the Earth swings the 
Moon about it, and how the Sun swings the 
Earth about him. This being so, there is conse- 
quently generated a centrifugal force from the 
central sphere, which is equipoised by a centi-ip- 
etal force, in that same central sphere, and so 
these planets are held in their natural orbits. 

Now, my friend, if you will take an apple, 
tie a string to its stem, and then whirl it about 
your hand, calling your hand the Sun, the 
apple the Earth, the connecting string the at- 
traction between the two sx>hei'es, and the liquid 
covering of the apple the water on the surface 
of our planet, what could you illustrate by such 
an experiment? AVould not the liquid sub- 
stance on the surface of the apple be swung or 
thrown by centrifugal force to the side of the 
apple opposite to the central force? I think I 
hear you say, ''of course it wx)uld be." 

Now in the last preceding illustration, 
though I have represented the connecting string 



98 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

as the attraction between the hand and apple, 
it does not very well take the place of attrac- 
tion of gravitation between the Sun and Earth, 
for if ^ve had such an attraction between the 
hand and apple, and such a centripetal force 
equalled the centrifugal force, w^e would then 
have on the apple, as on the Earth, two tides of 
equal height caused by the Sun, one the result 
of centripetal and the other of centrifugal 
force. 

As we can all easily see why the Moon 
causes a tide on the surface of the Earth next 
to her, it is unnecessary to dwell on the known 
and certain; so we will pass without any delay 
to that which has been unknown and uncertain, 
and try to give a true reason for the existence 
of a tide on the opposite side of the Earth from 
the Moon. 

As the Sun generates centrifugal force by 
his axial motion, so the Earth generates centrif- 
ugal force by its axial motion, and as the Sun 
swings the Earth about him in its orbit, so the 
Earth swings the Moon about it in her orbit. 
The Sun, that great controller, on account of 
its size, has the greater part to perform in this 



ESSAY V. 99 



swinging contest; thongh at every revolution 
the Earth, or either of the planets, make about 
the Sun, that great luminary is influenced from 
a direct course by the swinging powder of each 
one of these smaller spheres. As between the 
Earth and Moon, the Earth does the most 
swinging, though the contest is much more 
equal than it is between the Sun and Earth. 

As the Sun and Earth pass through the 
heavens they remind me of a man and a little 
boy, who take each other by the riglit hand and 
advance toward a certain point, the man all the 
time swinging the boy around hiui, while the 
boy is doing his best to swing the man in the 
same direction. The stronger and heavier 
power will of course succeed in doing the more 
swinging. The hold between the man and boy 
may be called centripetal force, while there is a 
strong tendency generated by their circular 
motion to swing off at a tangent, and this swing- 
ing off tendency may be called and is centrif- 
ugal force. 

As the Earth and Moon pass around the 
Sun, each one by swinging the other with all 
its might, generates a centrifugal force which 



100 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

is, of course, felt most on these spheres on their 
outsides, that is, their sides farthest removed 
from the attraction of the opposing sphere. 
Now as there is a centripetal force existing be- 
tween these planets, and as there is generated a 
centrifugal force on the sides farthest rem<;)ved 
from the opposing sphere, it appears to any 
reasonable mind, that each of these spheres, on 
account of their natural condition, should be 
influenced to take the form of an ellipsoid, and 
should either of them be elastic or have a fluid 
substance over its surface, such elasticity or 
fluid would yield to these controlling laws, and 
on one side of each of these spheres, it would be 
attracted to, and on the opposite side driven 
from, or swung from, a common center, about 
which each of these spheres revolve. 

The centripetal and centrifugal force of 
the Eaith on the Moon, and the Moon on the 
Earth, are equal, consequently the tide caused 
by one force should be as high as the tide 
caused by the other. 

I have thus far in what i have said ex- 
plained the philosophy of the tides in their 
general or simple form. If I have failed to 



ESSAY V. 101 



thoroughly comprehend and exphiiii the trutli; 
it has not been from la(*k of labor and determi- 
nation. I believe thoroughly in the theory I 
have produced here for your consideration and 
as I launch it out into the great ocean of 
thought, I think it will sail proudly on and on 
unheeding the jeers and sneers of the thought- 
less and unharmed by the critical darts of the 
sophist. 

In this essay while I have quite tlioroughly 
discussed the philosophy of the tides, I have 
not made any complications or combinations 
caused by the positions of the Sun and Moon, 
or hinderances and oppositions in the shape of 
continents^ islands and head w^inds, that part I 
have left to you, who may calculate and specu- 
late on that part of the subject as you please 
and when you please. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTHOR'S RECENT 
LECTURES AND DEBATES. 



WHAT GOVERNS THE TIME OF ROTATION OF 
OUR PLANET ON ITS AXIS? 

I might say a few words of truth about the 
time it takes the Earth to rotate on its axis. 
This rotation of our planet, as well as the axial 
motion of other planets, depends upon their 
axial inclination, their distance from the Sun, 
their bulk of expansive composition, their 
ability to expand quickly when exposed to the 
Sun's heat, or contract rapidly when away 
from such heat, and rapidity of their oibital 
motion. I do not think it necessary to point 
out the reason why these. conditions of a planet 
should effect its axial motion. Any one having 
become familiar with my theory on the axial 
motion of the Earth should understand why the 
natural conditions of a planet, I have just men- 
tioned, should affect its axial motion. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 103 

POET MILTON. THE BIBLE, AND A KESISTING 
MEDIUM. 

When the poet Milton had grown to full, 
ripe manhood, he took a tour ov^er a large por- 
tion of the continent of Europe, visiting many 
important places of interest and associating 
himself in the company of many distinguished 
men. It has been said that one of these great 
beacon -lights he had the pleasure of seeing, and 
visiting, was Galileo, then the astronomer whose 
late fame had spread all ovei- Europe. With 
this great character he communed, and tin ally 
pleasantly left this worthy man, after re('eiv- 
ing a grand store of his philosophy. From his 
travels on the continent we follow this great 
poet to England's shores, and thence into that 
famous city — London- — and to his quiet home. 
In a few yeai'S a poem breaks out from its 
environs and soon its praises encompass the 
globe. This remarkable production was "Para- 
dise Lost," by John Milton. As an astronom- 
ical or a philosophical poem it was in advance 
of the age^ and as a scriptural poem this pro- 
duction has probably never had its equal. In 
this poem Milton has no doubt nsed some of 



104 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS, 

Galileo's philosophy and astronomy,. which the 
poet had endorsed and appropriated to his own 
use. When and wdiere Milton, in this poem, 
speaks of the angels, good and bad, flying on 
and on through the medium of interstellar 
space, he represents them as having wings, 
with which they propel themsehes through that 
immense space between Heaven and Hell, and 
between the Sun and Earth. Is it not impos- 
sible for anything to fly unless it has a resisting 
medium to fly in? From the philosophy of 
Milton's poem I understand that this great poet 
and his teachers — including Galileo — believed 
there is an ethereal medium all through inter- 
stellar space, and that this medium is a resist- 
ing medium. 

Whenever and wherever the Bible speaks 
of the flight of a spirit to other worlds, or to 
that heaven above, and where it tells of the 
ascension of material beings, being borne on 
aw^ay off though in stellar space on angels' 
wings, it clearly leads us to believe that the 
author or authors of that ''book of books" knew 
or believed there was, and is, and will be, a 
resisting ethereal medium in interstellar space. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 105 

The religion of nearly all people and 
nations, both of the past and present time, 
teaches that there is a medium pervading inter- 
stellar space through which winged angels may 

The glorious light of science radiating 
from the immortal mind of a Eomer who dis- 
covered that light passes through an ethereal 
medium a distance of the diameter of the 
Earth's orbit in about sixteen minutes, would — 
if it did not seriously interfere with an ill- 
founded theory on planetary motion — convince 
all scientists at once that there is an ethereal 
resisting motion pervading instellar space. 

THE OUTSIDE APPEAKANCE OF THE EARTH. 
We all learned the fact from our school 
books, that the Earth is flattened at its poles, 
that its diameter is greater at the equator than 
at the poles, and that this is the result of cen- 
trifugal force. When we were taught those 
facts we were taught the truth, and now with 
the same philosophy we may believe that the 
outside of our atmosphere is much farther 
away from the Earth's surface at the equator 



106 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

than it is at its poles, it being a tlviid tliei*e 
seems no cause to prevent its heaping up by 
centrifugal force. If the Earth's atmosphere 
is heaped up at the equator by centrifugal 
force, why should not the atmosphei*e of other 
planets be heaped up at their equators? If 
centrifugal force tends to throw the gaseous 
envelope of a sphere above its equator, wh}^ is 
it not reasonable to believe that it has been 
centrifugal force that heaped up and swung 
out the rings of Saturn froui its equator? 

The planet Saturn is the only sphere of the 
solar system that has visible rings. These rings 
must be composed of a rather dense fluid or 
they would not be visible. If visible rings re- 
volve about a planet why should not invisible 
rings encircle and revolve about it? Tliere 
may be a ring or rings about our globe or other 
globes wdiich w^e in our life time will not be 
permitted to behold but which, the star gazers 
of future inhabitants of this planet, — when 
these rings will have become dense enough to 
reflect the Sun's light — may see in all their 
splendor. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 107 

KEPLER AND NEWTON'S LAWS OF PLANETARY 
MOTIONS. 

Kepler discovered three laws of planetary 
motion and Newton added to these three 
laws by applying to them his three laws of 
gravitation, these laws seem to me to be all 
true, they are rules in accord with physi- 
cal science and are liable to live forever. I 
will mention but one of them here, and that 
one is the third law by Kepler which is as fol- 
lows: *'The square of the times of the revolu- 
tion of each planet is proportional to the cube 
of its mean distance from the Sun," as I may 
have before stated, according to my theory this 
would be the case, the times of the revolution 
a planet depends upon the distance from the 
Sun or planet from which it receives its orbital 
motion. There are some exceptions to this 
"third law by Kepler" caused by opposing 
natural laws, but its foundation stands firmly. 

DO PLANETS HELP MOVE PLANETS IN THEIR 
ORBITS? 

This is a question that may be raised 
among those who discuss the orbital motion of 



108 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

planets. I answer of course they do, Mercnr>^ 
and all the inner planets help pull alono; all the 
outer ones, and the motions of these outer ones 
tend to influence the inner ones in the way they 
are going. 

BY WHAT FORCE IS THE MOON CARRIED 
AROUND THE SUN? 

By the same atti*aetion that eai*ries the 
Earth around that luminar>\ they are both car- 
ried on together by their attraction for the side 
of the Sun that faces tliem, and continually 
moves from west to east on its axis. The Sun 
so moving about its axis in this way by the 
strong arm of attraction; all the time influences 
these globes to follow its moving surface. If 
the Earth was blotted out from existence, the 
Moon would no doubt still be, and its motion 
about the Sun wonld probably be al)Out the 
same as it is now\ It would of course cease its 
orbital motion about the Earth, for there would 
be no Earth to canse it to move in its old way. 
It might wander away off through interplane- 
tary space and become a satellite of one of our 
great planets, but wherever it might go, it would 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 109 

— as long as it remained in our solar system — 
continue to revolve about the Sun. 

REASONS WHY PLANETS SHOULD MOVE IN 
ELLIPTICAL ORBITS. 

As the Earth is the planet best known to us, 
we will take it in its present state of existence, 
and while following it in its orbital course, at- 
tempt to give reasons why it should be further 
from the Sun at certain parts of its orbit than 
it is at other parts. Attraction for some body 
of matter away off in etheral space has been 
said to be the cause of the remarkable chang- 
ing of the Earth^s distance from its center of 
attraction. All that may be true, but much 
more may be true, for it seems to me there are 
some other ways to account for these changes. 

The planet Earth is held in its orbit by 
centrifugal and centripetal force, therefore it 
should — if these were the only forces that in- 
fluence its orbital position — be the same dis- 
tance from the Sun in every part of its orbit. 

The Earth has come to its present ellipti- 
cal orbital motion from a more elliptical orbital 
motion, and it is now governed by much the 



110 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

same laws that controlled its orbital motion 
thousands of centuries ago. Then it was 
heat and attraction that kept np this mo- 
tion, and held it in its orbit. jN'ow it is held 
in its orbit, and moved on in its course, by 
a repelling and an attracting force, and 
comes near or goes away from the Sun, as 
its bulk is expanded or contracted. Contrac- 
tion causes our planet to approach the Sun, and 
expansion causes it to go off from that great 
center of gravity and heat. 

From my theory on the orbital motion of 
the Earth, there may come a law which would 
account for elliptical orbits of planets or satel- 
lites, for when they are at right angles from 
their principal's axis, and perpendicular to said 
principal's equator, they are subject to more 
centrifugal force than at any other point, and 
therefore liable to be swung out farther from 
the surface of their principal. 

These motions of the Earth to and from 
the Sun, as well as the orbital motions of other 
planets, or satellites — when they are once fixed 
by physical laws into a regular motion, should 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS, 111 

and may continue in their oi'bits, with the same 
motion for thousands of years. 

WHAT DOES THE MASS OF MATTER HAVE TO DO 
WITH THE MOTION OF A PLANET OR SATEL- 
LITE IN ITS ORBIT? 

The larger and heavier the mass, the more 
power it has, while it turns on its axis to swing 
its planet or satellite about it. If a sphere like 
the Moon could be influenced to revolve in an 
orlrit about the Sun, its mean distance from 
that luminary being but 1,000,000 miles, it 
would no doubt make its orbital revolution 
in less time than that great center of attraction 
would turn twice on his axis. 

SOME SPECIAL FORMS AND APPEARANCES OF 
COMETS. 

Among the special forms and appearances 
of comets may be mentioned their long beards, 
the curves in their beards or tails, the number 
of their beards or tails, and the direction these 
beards or tails point from the comet's head. 
These facts depend for their appearance so 
much on different laws, that the student must 



112 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

study out the reasons for tliese special features 
for himself. From believing that an ethereal, 
vaporous, chaotic part, may be attracted more 
to its center of gravity — the Sun — than the 
head of the comet or its nucleus, as the water of 
the ocean is pulled toward the Sun and Moon, 
by the strong arm of attraction, and believing 
that the comet's tail is endeavoring to pull the 
head from that center of attraction, as I have 
somewhere fully explained, and believing that 
some of these swift messengers may have a ro- 
tary motion, you will not find it difficult, if you 
can so comprehend: wnth the general laws of 
motion and gravit}' — to find reasons for all 
these special appearances. 

MINOR MOVEMENTS OF THE SPHERES. 
What makes these plunets incline this way? 
Why does this sphere have a more elliptical 
orbit than that one? Why does this one nod, 
and that other one decline, and why does this 
one deviate from a direct course? These and a 
multitude of similar questions might be pro- 
pounded which would be easier asked than 
answered, but there are reasons for all these 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 113 

inovements, and these reasons have been or will 
be discovered. 

I will not undertake here to give reasons 
for the minor inovements of the members of 
the solar system. My object in discussing on 
questions of physical astronomy has been to 
find out causes for the principal motions of the 
members of this great system. To tell why 
these planets, satellites, asteroids and comets, 
move on and on as tliey do, why some of them 
roll or rotate as they go, and how they may 
have come into existence, and how they may 
take their departure, has been my principal 
object. 

IF THE ElETH CAME TO ITS PRESENT STATE OF 

EXISTENCE ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR'S 

HYPOTHESIS, SHOULD WE NOT SEE SOME 

EVIDENCE OF ITS FORMER CONDITION? 

When we study Geology for ourselves from 

the books of nature about us, and when we read 

from the Geologist's book of new discoveries, 

we become convinced that the Earth was at one 

time exposed to a melting heat, and that that 

high temperature left its everlasting impression 

on our globe. We also learn from these books 



114 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

of nature and Geology tliat our globe was at 
some remote period of its existence, subjected 
to a very rigorous clime, a cold and frigid place 
in the expansive heavens, and that winter of 
terrible frost left its mai-ks on our sphere, 
which have endured the wear and tear of hun- 
dreds of centuries. 

How easy it is from my hypothesis to ac- 
count for this melting heat and terrible frost. 
For if the Earth's orbit at some remote time in 
the chaotic pust w^as very eccentric, it may have 
taken hundreds of years for it to complete one 
orbital revolution, and wdiile it was completing 
one of these revolutions it may have gone 
through various changes of temperature. From 
that frigid wintry clime, away off beyond the 
planet Xeptune, w^ith its ice-bound crust, it no 
doubt sped on in its slow but certain course 
toward that great central mass — the Siin — 
where it was transformed from that ''ice-bound 
crust" to a red-hot rock-ribbed surface, above 
which was spread to a great depth, a hot moist 
atmosphere in which floated about, as great pon- 
derous clouds, evaporated primitive oceans of 
our globe. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 115 

WHAT DOES THE BULK OF ATMOSPHEKE HAVE 
TO DO WITH THE TEMPERATUEE ON THE 
SURFACE OF THE EARTH? 

Questions of interest occur very frequently 
— when we look out to behold the wonderful 
niechanisni of the world around us. When we 
think that a drop of water will change its 
temperature sooner than will a bai-rel of that 
fluid, we think that which is certainly correct. 
When YOU and 3'our friend tell me that a square 
foot of air will change its temperature sooner 
than will a square mile of that fluid substance, 
I will think you speak the truth. If the Earth's 
atmosphere in this latitude was only one mile 
high, its temperature would change so suddenly 
that our nights in mid-summer would be freez- 
ing cold and our days burning hot. 

The great depth of our atmosphere, about 
the tropics and the equator of this planet serve 
as a great moderation, for during the day, the 
Sun warms this great ocean of atmosphere 
from its heights to its depths, and consequently 
when said heated surface of our globe will have 
.turned away from that great center of light 
and heat it will not — to any great extent — 



116 3IACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

change its temperature during its short absence 
from that center of heat. 

Our seasons change, as the temperature of 
the atmosphere changes, for jou may notice, 
when the days grow long and the nights short, 
there is more time for the Sun with its hot 
perpendicular rays to warm our atmosphere, 
conseqnently it becomes warmer, and when the 
nights grow long and the days short, we have 
less of the Sun's perpendicular rays to warm 
this fluid above and around ns and accordingly 
we notice the mean temperature of the atmos- 
phere becomes lower. 

WHY ASTEONOMEKS CAN NOT TELL AT ONCE 
WHEN THEY SEE A COMET, WHETHEK IT IS 
AN OLD OE A NEAV ONE. 

I have heard men make this assertion: "If 
astronomers can't tell certain when a comet is 
to appear, where it is to appear, and how it is 
to appear, then they don't know anything about 
them." Such talk is foolishness. If a farmer 
has a pig, and that pig strays away for a 
few years — 'though he may have marked it well 
and recorded such marking — after the lapse of 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 117 

that time, he may not be able to identify that 
pig shonld it happen to pass his premises where 
he eon Id get a good look at it. 

It is impossible for the astronomer to mark 
a comet, as a fai-mer can a pig, and he shonld 
not be much blamed, if after the lapse of fifty 
or a tlionsaiid years, he fails to recognize it. 
Dnring that time it may have nndergone many 
changes in composition and bnlk, which wonld 
cause it to have the appearance of a strange or 
undiscovered comet, while at the same time, 
these very changes in its composition and bnlk, 
would cause its orbital motion to change, there- 
by obliterating eveiy mark by which the astron- 
omer expected to identify it. 

■)f -A- 

THE AGE OF PLANETS. 

When we look at the planets of the solar 
sj'stem, we may think of the age of each one of 
these spheres, and from some religious or scien- 
tific authority, we are apt to conclude, that they 
were all brought into existence at one and the 
same time. But such conclusions are not well 
founded and are undoubtedly incorrect, for we 



118 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

see by observation that they all differ in appear- 
ance and motion. That beino^ the fact, it is 
also a fact, that the age and condition of a planet 
always produces such appearance and motion. 
The planet that has the most eccentric orbit 
is the most like a comet, from which condition 
it came or to which condition it is returnino-. 
The planet Yenus appears to have been longer 
a naember of the solar system than the planet 
Mars. I think that Yenus can be rightly called 
the older, though possibly. Mars may be as old 
as she, or older, and the reason he has not ad- 
vanced in growth may be because he has been 
checked and stunted and has not had chance to 
develop, or, probably he may have been what 
Yenus is to-day — though it is hardly possible — 
and is, from some natural cause, wasting away 
to return at last to chaos and a cometarv state. 



IF A ROTATING SPHERE OF THE SOLAR SYS- 
TEM WOULD CEASE ITS AXIAL MOTION, 
WHAT EFFECT WOULD THAT HATE ON ITS 
DEPENDANTS? 

If the Earth would cease its axial motion, 
the Moon and the Earth would soon be solidly 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 119 

bound l)v the laws of gravity into one mass. 
The Earth's centrifugal force on a body above 
it would end, as soon as our sphere ceased its 
axial motion, and when that force ceased to 
exist there would then be nothing to prevent 
their uniting. 

The satellites of other planets — in the same 
state of gi-owth as the Earth, would meet with 
the same fate as the Moon, if their principals 
should cease to rotate on their axis, and the 
rings of Saturn would at once fall to the sur 
face of the planet, if that grand old sphere 
would cease its axial motion. 

If the Sun, that great centei* of our plane- 
taiy system, should cease its axial motion, our 
whole system of organized planets, satellites 
and asteroids would cease their present orbital 
course, and advance toward that great center 
of gravity and heat; some of these spheres, 
would no doubt, m into that ^j^IowIup: orb: 
others would, undoubtedly, become on approach- 
ing that great, hot center, of a chaotic come- 
tary nature, and move about their center of 
gravity and heat, in very eccentric orbits. 
While others might return to a cometary con- 



120 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

dition and go off into deep, unfathonied space, 
never to be seen in this system again. 






ATTKACTION OF GKAYITATION AND THE 
MAGNET, 

Universal gravitation exists between every 
atom of the terreskial and celestial world. It is 
a property existing in all matter which property 
influences all other matter to come to it. 

A magnet is matter charged with electric- 
ity. Electricity is of two kinds, positive and 
negative; it always exists in matter, and may 
exist without matter or separate from mat- 
ter, positive and negative electricity attract 
each other. While negative and positive elec- 
tricity, when they come in contact with cur- 
rents like themselves repel! . If negative and 
positive electricity are influenced to become 
inhabitants of one and the same mass of matter 
they may each — according to the electric forces 
about them — take up a certain position in that 
mass, opposite to each other, and matter w^hen 
it is so charged with electrity^ — whether it is 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 121 

the magnetic needle, a mass of metal, the planet 
Earth, or anyother mass — becomes polarized. 

When a planet becomes polarized, it is 
held in a certain position by these strong elec- 
tric forces and is not apt to change its position 
for any slight cause. It may be that the Sun, 
and his retinue of spheres, are all influenced 
by electric forces to have their axes lie in a line 
perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, but are 
prevented from exactly doing so by opposing 
forces, which may arise from gravitation, or 
other laws, that control the motions and ap- 
pearance of these heavenly bodies, as they move 
on through ethereal space. 

DO THE TIDES OF THE OCEAN, CAUSED BY THE 
ATTKACTION OF THE MOON, HELP SUB- 
STANTIATE EITHER OF THE AUTHOR'S 
THEORIES ON PLANETARY MOTION? 

The evidence, as given by observers, seems 
to be that the tide raised by the attrac- 
tion of the Moon does not occur directly under 
the Moon — that is, on a direct line connecting 
the center of the Earth and Moon — but it 
always rises east of said line. Why is this so? 



122 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

Why does not the attraction of that satellite 
pull up this fluid instantly and directly beneath 
her? If the attraction of the Moon acts in- 
stantaneousl}" there should be no dragging or 
lao-P-ino; behind. If is does not act instantaneous- 
ly and there is the least holding on — when this 
attraction gets a hold — then the tide of the 
ocean, caused by the Moon's attraction, should 
occur east of a direct line connecting the center 
of the Earth with its satellite. It being the 
fact that the Moon's attraction on the Earth's 
surface is always east of a direct line connect- 
ing their centers, it must therefore be true, and 
the proof (dearly shows that the Earth's attrac- 
tion on the Moon is not directly in a line con- 
necting their centers, but east of such a line, 
caused by the rotary motion of our planet. 
Now^ if this attraction is any distance at all 
east of a direct line connecting the centers of 
these spheres, it will cause the Moon to be 
swung out and away from our rotating globe; 
thereby generating a centrifugal force, and 
this force with a centripetal force to balance it, 
will move that satellite on and on in its oi'bit 
about this rotating sphere. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 123 

A WAY THE AXIAL MOTION OF A SPHERE 
EFFECTS ITS PLANET'S ASTEROIDS, SATEL- 
LITES OR RINGS. 

The philosophical mind can readily see 
according to my orbital theory of planets, 
asteroids, satellites or rings, how a fast or slow 
motion of the principal on its axis, should 
change or influence its dependents' orbital 
motions. 

If the Earth rotates on its axis but once in 
forty-eight hours, the Moon would receive less 
centrifugal force from this rotating sphere and 
no doubt cease to be what it is now, but if it 
could in some way survive such a change, and 
remain in its present orbit, it would not per- 
form its orbital revolution in as short a time as 
it makes its circuits now. 

If the planet Saturn rotated on its axis 
faster or slower than it does, its satellites and 
rings — if they survived the change — would 
move faster or slower according to the motion 
of their principal. Should the great planet 
Jupiter rotate hereafter once every twenty-four 
hours, the time of the revolution of its asteroids 
— if they withstood the change — would become 
longer. 



124 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



If that great central mass of. our system 
should change its axial motion, and henceforth 
move slower or faster about its axis, then this 
whole oi'ganized system of spheres — if they 
survived the change — would each at once take 
up a different motion from what tliey now have. 

As the force that swings a sphere out and 
on in its orbit is generated by tlie principal's 
axial motion, it thence follows, that when the 
principal moves slowei* it generates less force, 
and consequently its planets, satellites, asteroids 
or rings should move slower about such a ro- 
tating sphere. 

HEAT AS A MEANS OF MOTION. 
So much has been said about heat as a 
means of motion that there reuiains very little 
to be said on the subject. But as I have, while 
describing the macliiner3^ of the heavens, used 
heat as a means of motion, I think it but my 
duty to say something about that power or force 
that seems to help run this great machine. 
That long line of perpetual motion inventors 
have finally concluded, that perpetual motion 
may be obtained by a current of warm atmos- 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 125 

pliere passing from a naturally warm apartment 
through some high outlet, to the upper recesses 
of a naturally colder apartment, while at the 
same time the colder atmosphere of this nat- 
urally colder apartment, finds its way through 
some low outlet to the lower recesses of the 
naturally warmer apartment and atmosphere so 
housed in, will consequently begin and con- 
tinue to move in a circuit. Just what this kind 
of a perpetual motion has to do with the con- 
tinuation of the heavenly bodies' motions, I will 
not undertake to explain; but I believe this law 
of motion to be true, and that it acts its part 
throughout the length and breadth of the heavens. 
There are some things in the universe that 
seem to be indestructible, among which may be 
mentioned matter and heat. There is the same 
quantity of matter in the stellar universe to-day 
that there was billions of years ago, and there is 
now just as much heat in this grand starry 
firmament as there has been during these bil- 
lions of years. This heat may have changed 
its position at various times, but the average 
temperature of this great unbounded universe 
has always been about the same. 



126 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

These great immortal principles, matter 
and heat, may change their condition and seem 
to disappear from a real existence, but then 
the}^ are only asleep, at rest or aw}", and ere 
long they will arouse themselves and come fi-om 
their condition of repose or ti'avel; dressed in 
the same habilliments, j^^^'fc^i'^^'^Jng the same 
sei'vice, and retaining the same immortal ele- 
ments or principals it is their nature to possess. 

THE GERM OF THE SOLAK SYSTEM. 

In my essay on ''Production and Destruc- 
tion of Worlds" I take the Sun as a chaotic 
cometary, massive bulk, and regarding tlie 
Earth and other wanderers of our system in the 
same natural condition. I thence proceed to 
give the steps of development of the member 
of this errand svstem of oui's — thinkino; of 
course to go back to such a state of existence — 
is back far enough. But having been lately 
asked what causes these bulks to be in such a 
state, is why I here say something about the 
germ of this great system. 

You no doubt undei stand mv theorv on 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 127 

the growth of worhls, and if you do understand 
it thoroughly, you will certainly observe that my 
theory shows very plainly that the o-rowth of 
the Sun, the Earth, and other planets, and 
members of our system have been from the 
first condition of comets, which is the smallest 
and most rarified state of their existence. 

The Earth and other members of our system 
may be as old as the Sun, but have not 
developed as fast, therefore he gradually be- 
came master and now holds supreme control. 

At one time the Sun, that great center of 
our system, was but a small, cloudy, nebulous 
bulk in ethereal space, wandering irregularly 
hither and thither, or having a fixed motion 
governed by fixed laws. From such a nebulous 
state it gradually developed by drawing nebu- 
louSjChatic matter to it, until it finally became 
the powerful, massive, chaotic wanderer that I 
described in my essay on the ''Production and 
Destruction of Worlds." 

I believe that a comet that floats away off 
in the ethei'eal heavens, and is without a 
nucleus or head, and appears like a thin cloud, 
through every part of which stars may shine, 



128 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

is probably the germ of a future Sun, planet, 
satellite or asteroid. 

THE EFFECT A KESISTING MEDIUM HAS ON 
THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE AS OUR PLANET 
PASSES THROUGH THAT GREAT OCEAN OF 
ETHER. 

There have been some persons with whom 
I have conversed, who produce a rather logical 
argument against a resisting medium pervading 
interstellar space, by reasoning as follows: ''If 
the Earth passes through a resisting medium at 
the rate of 68^000 miles an hour, the front side 
of this sphere would be swept bare of its atmos- 
phere by that resisting medium, or, if not swept 
entirely bare the barometer here on the Earth's 
surface would indicate a great atmospheric 
pressure every morning at about six o'clock, 
and also, if the Earth is influenced to rotate on 
its axis by receiving more resistance in propor- 
tion to its weight, on its expanded side that 
faces the Sun, than it does on its conti-acted 
side, which is absent from that luminary, there 
would certainly be great currents of our atmos- 
phere flowing over the surface of the Earth 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 120 

from west to east, caused by the resistance of 
this resisting niedinni on the upper strata of 
our atmosphere." 

I have thouoilt over these aroniments and 
while I can say they seem rather 2-^la.usible, I 
must also say, that those results need not, and 
do not occur while the Earth passes through a 
resisting medium. These logicians might as 
well say, when there is a great storm on the 
ocean, and the surface of that billowy sea is 
swept by a furious tornado; that down below 
that troubled sea, at the depth of a hundred 
fathoms, the water is heavier than it was when 
the sea was cahn, while great currents of water 
sweep the bottom of this ocean caused by the 
atmospheric resistance on the upper surface of 
this great sea. 

The centrifugal force, generated by the 
rotation of our planet on its axis, gives great 
resistance to its atmosphere against any out- 
side pressure. While centripetal force gives 
solidity and firmness to the ocean of con- 
tracting and expanding atmosphere above 
us. 

We have all learned from crood author- 



130 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

ities that currents of atmosphere floating o\'er 
the Earth's surface are caused by the presence 
and absence of heat. Such, no doubt, is the 
truth. And if that is true, then there miglit be 
an outside belt of atmosphere that is influenced, 
by some natural law, to travel in an easterly di- 
rection about the Earth, on account of the 
resistance it receives on its expanded side, as it 
is hurried on through ethereal space, but such 
a moving belt would be prevented from hav- 
ing any influence on the atmosphere near the 
surface of the Earth, by denser belts or cur- 
rents of atmosphere traveling in opposite or 
other directions. 

MAGNITUDE AND MOTION. 
When a lieavy sphere one mile in circum- 
ference is set in motion, it is not very easily 
stopped and if it should not receive any addi- 
tional force, it might make many revolutions 
about its axis, without perceptibly diminishing 
its velocity; such being the fact, we may believe 
that our planet Earth may receive less force at 
some times than at others to move it on, which 
would perceptibly accelerate or retard its mo- 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 131 

tion if it was not a great massive bulk whose 
motion cannot be quickly changed, and which 
l)efore any change takes place is acted, upon l)y 
an accelerating force that controls its motion in 
such a way as t<> neutralize the retarding force, 
and consecjifently causes our planet to have 
continuallv and constantlv a rei^ular motion. 



DOES EVERY COMETAEY MESSENGER THAT WE 
SEE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM REYOLYE 
ABOUT THE SUN? 

I believe that some comets l)efore they 
reach perihelion Ijecome so expanded that they 
cease to be influenced more by attraction of 
gravitation in the Sun, than by the lav\' of 
mechanics which says: "A vaporous messenger 
capable of being expanded by heat, when it 
approaches a hot center of gravity, al)out which 
is a gaseous medium, that inc-reases in density 
as the distance to the surface of such a lumi- 
nary decreases, when such an approaching body 
becomes lighter than the medium it is entering 
— and it may be made so by being expanded 
by heat — then, and in that case, it is the in- 
clination of such an ex2:>anded body to change 



132 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS, 

the direction of its course, and like a hot-air 
balloon pull off from its center of gravity, 
obeying the same law of mechanics that a cork 
obeys, when it, of its own accord, rises from the 
bottom of a basin of watei*. " 

THE UNDULATOEY THEOEY OF LIGHT AXD 
SOUND. 
The undulatorv theory of lio;ht and somid 

has been attacked from various sources, since 
my essay on the cause of the Earth's axial mo- 
tion was first publislied. Whether that long 
accepted theory will receive serious damage or 
not, from these attacks i cannot say. Should 
the new theory, which seems rather plausible, 
ever take the place of the old one; I don't see 
how it can in any way affect my system of 
physical astronomy, for it claims the existence of 
an ethereal medium thi'oughout interplanetary 
space, the same as the undulatory theory does. 

WHAT KIND OF AX AXIAL MOTIOX HAS THE 
MOON? 
Having spent considerable time studying 
the motions of the Moon, I think I ought to be 
able to tell how it moves and whv it moves. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 133 

If the Moon rotated on its axis, its prin- 
cipal motions would then be one more than 
tliose of the Earth. Tlies3 motions of the 
Earth are tliree: fii'st, on with the Sun through 
ethereal space; second, around the Sun; and 
third, about its own axis. AYhile the moon goes 
with the Sun through ethereal space, around the 
Sun and arouiul the Eartli,and, can I add, around 
its own 'cixh( I think not, foi* if our Earth 
should continue its orbital motion, and cease 
at this moment to rotate on its axis, would not 
one side of our planet continue to face the 
Sun? And while such side of our planet con- 
tinued to face the Sun, you and I and the rest 
of humanity would say, the Earth does not rotate 
on its axis. If we would saj that of the Earthy 
why not say that of the Moon, for it always has 
the same surface facing tlie Earth, its center of 
gravity. Xo doubt the Moon has been in that 
position so long, that its hemisphere next to the 
Earth has become heavier, which may cause it 
to be drawn the strono;er by attraction of o-ray- 
itation of the Earth. If there is any power in 
this planet that holds one side of the Moon 
towards it, then it seems to me, it cannot rotate 



134 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

on its axis any more than an apple- does when 
yon tie a string to its stem, and yon whirl 
it abont 3T)nr hand by that string. That the 
Moon's snrface is held in its position by the 
mastering power of the Earth, is nndoubtedly 
trne, and if it is so held, and the Earth sways it 
in its orbit, then the only axis it turns on is the 
axis of its orbit, abont which it revolves. 

It is not the nature of a planet to rotate 
on its axis unless something turn it. From a 
long earnest study on this axial motion question, 
I have never yet found out any reason why 
the Moon should rotate on its axis, but without 
much study, I have repeatedly found reasons 
why it should not, and can not, and does not 
have an individual axial motion like the 
Earth's. 

The Moon has no atmosphere. It is desti- 
tute of this life-giving gasseons fluids that 
envelo23 our globe. If it had an atmosphere 
of any considerable depth it would without 
doubt have some kind of an axial motion, but 
on account of its changing relative positions 
between the Sun and Earth, such axial motion 
would be very irregular. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 135 

HOW THE ETHER OF INTERSTELLAR SPACE IS 
CONDENSED BY THE PRESENCE OF IVLATTER. 

Since mv theory on the o-ep.eral forms and 
motions of comets was published, I have occa- 
sionally been asked why the ether in interstellar 
space is denser near a body of matter, as the 
Sun or tlie Earth, than it is away off from these 
centei's of gravity ? The reason why this should 
be so is very plain, and any one who thinks 
earnestly may understand it. 

If I should say that the Eartli's atmosphei-e 
or the Sun's atmosphere is heavier near the 
surface of these sx>heres, where it is very much 
warmer than ii] regions of atmosphere far 
above such surface, the honest student of 
philosophy would say, I am correct, and saying 
and believing I am correct in such a statement, 
he w^ill without doubt say I tell the truth wdien 
I say, that the ethereal medium that pervades 
interstellar space, and in which, and through 
which, the on moving Sun, with his revolving 
and rotating spheres, move in glorious and 
glowing splendor, is contracted the most, and 
becomes most heavy, where, and w^hen, it is 
nearest to the strongest attracting sphere. 



136 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

These attracting spheres cause, their sur- 
rounding ethereal mediums to become most 
dense when, and Avhere, their spheres have the 
slowest orbital motion, as they advance on in 
their endless circuits through it. 

•jf ^ 

A REASON WHY THE SUN AND OTHER BODIES 
IN ETHEREAL SPACE SHOULD MOVE. 

Take the Sun, planets, satellites, asteroids 
or comets, in facts, any bulk of matter in the 
stellar universe, that has an oi'bital motion, and 
we find a reason why it should continue such a 
motion, as it speeds on in its course through 
the ethereal medium that surrounds it. 

I wish you to observe the Sun accompanied 
by his system of spheres moving on, and on, 
to the unknown and unseen beyond, as he en- 
ters the ether of the stellar nniverse, the either 
near him becomes more contracted than either 
further away, and the medium he has just left 
more contracted and denser than the medium 
he is just entering, which is caused by attraction 
of gravitation in that great mass of matter, con- 
densing most the ether it has been the longest 
near. That being the fact, does it not appear 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 137 

clear to yoii, that when tliis denser mediuin, 
closes in behind a moving sphere that is enter- 
ing a rarer medium, said moving sphere will be 
forced on in its course by the action of said 
denser medium? 

AXIAL MOTION OF THE OUTEK PLANETS. 
Admitting that the planets, Uranus and 
Neptune, rotate on their axes in nearly an op- 
posite direction to the axial motion of the 
Earth and some other planets; w^hat is the 
reason for such an axial motion? I beleve 
I have hinted at an answer to that ques- 
tion somewhere in an essay where I have 
said, ''the outer planets may be more come- 
tary than the inner ones." Such being 
the case, the light gaseous medium, that en- 
velopes a comet and extends out from it on the 
the side opposite to the Sun, will of course, be 
on the opposite side of these planet pointing 
from the Sud. A planet in such a chaotic con- 
dition, according to my theory on the axial mo- 
tion of the Earth, will be influenced, by the 
resisting medium of interstellar space, to be 
moyed back on its light and bulky side contin- 



138 JMACHIXERY OF THE HEAVEXS. 

iially, while the side facing the Sim will neces- 
sarily move in the opposite direction, and so 
move, as they are supposed to move, carrying 
their satellites with them. 



WHAT KEEPS SYSTEMS AXD THE MEMBERS OF 
SYSTEMS APAETV 

Xo doubt electricitv, centrifugal force and 
heat are the natural powers that keeps suns, 
planets, satellites, asteroids aiul c()mets apart. 
Just what electricity does, we nu\y not fully 
know, but we do know that bodies charged 
with like electricity repell. The part centrifu- 
gal force performs, 1 have fully shown in an 
essay, and if you believe, when two splieres of 
ecjual size, four thousand miles apart, and mov- 
ing in opposite directions, are in conjunction 
with a body, apparently at rest, that the body 
apparently at rest, will be influenced to go in 
the direction the nearer of said sphei'es is 
movincr, theii, and in such a case, you can saY 
you believe in my theory on the orbital motion 
of the Earth and other planets. Xow, as for 
heat, I think I haYe discussed at length else- 
where, how it effects the heavenly bodies, 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. 139 

but will try here to eiilai'ge upon my theory 
oil this subject, by telling you I believe that 
when the members- of this system, by some 
chance, become warmer, consequently more ex- 
panded than usual, it will be inclined to go 
from the Sun, or suns, tliat warmed it, obeying 
the same natural laws that the comet or the 
evaporated molecule of w^ater obeys. 

When a comet, as it passes through our 
system, happens to come near a planet, it is not 
much drawn from its course by the attraction of 
that planet. A reason of this is] because there 
is a great amount of heat about a planet which, 
in SQiiie cases, would make it impossible for it 
to get to some of these spheres. Such being 
the fact, I don't see w^hy a hot planet should 
not effect a comet in the same w^ay that the 
Sun does. 

DO PLANETS HAVE COMETS? 
Is it not reasonable for us to believe that 
planets have cometary messengers revolving 
about and belonging to them? The Earth may 
possess some of these ethereal travelers, which 
are invisible to us until their destruction, when 



UO MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS. 

their material parts appi'oacli the Earth's sur- 
face as meteors, areolites, or shooting stars. 
Compare Jupiter with the Sun. They are very 
much alike, although Jupiter is so much smaller 
than that great center of light and heat. The 
Sun has satellites and comets and I l)elieve 
Jupiter has satellites and comets. Aid as for 
their motions, I believe and I think you be- 
lieve that both Jupiter and the Sun have an 
oi'bital, as well as an axial motion. 



UNDISCOVERED SATELLITES. 
From what I have leai'ned by my study on 
the physical construction of the universe, I 
have come to believe that satellites may accom- 
pany our planet and other planets, which we 
never have seen on account of their diminutive 
size, these little globes, which were probably 
once little comets, go around these planets in 
the same direction the larger satellites revolve 
about their principals, and it may be that the 
destruction of these little wanderers is one 
source of meteors, areolites and shooting stars. 



PHILOSOPHICAL CHIPS. Ml 

DEPTH OF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE. 

Our learned opponent says: *'No! no!! the 
Earth's atmosphere is not thousands of miles 
deep at the equator, nor does the presence of 
the Sun increase its depth several hnndred miles, 
therefore your theor}^ on the cause of the 
Earth's axial motion won't pass inspection." 

Well, dear sir, that's too bad, not too bad 
for the theory, but too, too bad for the one who 
will not or cannot comprehend it. The theory 
is all right, and if you, with all your learning, 
would convince us that the Earth's atmosphere 
at the equator is only- fifty miles deep and that 
the presence of the Sun only expands it so that 
its depth becomes about one thousand feet more 
than fifty miles, we would still believe in our 
theory on the cause of the Earth's axial motion 
in spite of the arguments of the profoundest 
lomcian of the ao-e. 

Our theory does not depend for its exist- 
ence on the statement: ^'The Earth's atmosphere 
is several thousand miles deep at its equator 
and at noon, directly nnder the Sun, it is 
several hundred miles deeper than it is at mid- 



14:2 MACHINERY OF THE HEAVENS, 

night on the opposite side of our planet." This 
is simply a statement, supported by good au- 
thority, and we think it comes as near the truth 
as any other statement on those two questions 
can, although it does make our theory seem 
more plausible. 



